• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • About Us
    • FAQ
    • Meet the Team
  • Contact us
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
NEWSLETTER
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home Politics

Rory Stewart: ‘The Health Secretary told me to stop calling for face masks’

The former Tory minister said he was called a "hysterical populist" for demanding tougher measures at the start of the pandemic.

Henry Goodwin by Henry Goodwin
2021-10-13 13:43
in Politics
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmailWhatsapp

Rory Stewart has hit out at the “unbelievably hostile” treatment he received when advocating for tougher measures at the onset of the Covid pandemic – and revealed that the government asked him to stop publicly advocating the use of face masks.

In an interview with Newsnight, the former Conservative minister said the situation in February and March 2020 was “heartbreaking” and “bizarre” – and questioned British politicians’ relationship with the scientists advising them on their coronavirus policy.

“If we go back to February and March last year, it was clear that people were doing totally different things in east Asia, it was clear by the end of February that there was a very serious problem in Italy,” he said. “But people like me who were advocating for simple measures were attacked.

“I advocated for face masks and the deputy chief medical officer (CMO) of England went out on television and said there was no scientific basis for face masks. I tried to suggest that we control flights coming in, I tried to suggest that we should lock down gatherings and shut schools – and the tone at the time was unbelievably hostile. People who tried to say those kind of things were accused of being populists.”

“I was accused of being a hysterical populist."

Former cabinet minister @RoryStewartUK says in 2020 the UK government asked him to stop publicly advocating the use of masks#Newsnight pic.twitter.com/QczxRwRTkQ

— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) October 12, 2021

Stewart – who left Parliament after the 2019 general election, having challenged Boris Johnson for the leadership of the Tory party – said Labour and Liberal Democrat politicians accused him of being “a hysterical populist” because he suggested that Britain follow the example of “what other countries were doing successfully”.

He said: “You can see it. You can watch the deputy CMO of England on television, naming me. I was getting calls from the Cabinet Secretary and the Health Secretary and various others to try and tell me to stop saying these things. 

“The problem was that we don’t have a good system in Britain for politicians having a respectful but challenging conversation with scientists. Other countries are much better at doing this.

RelatedPosts

Labor win presents ‘great opportunity’ in fight to free Julian Assange

‘A rare Murdoch defeat’: Reaction as Scott Morrison accepts defeat in Australian elections

Labor topples Conservatives in Australia as Scott Morrison suffers defeat

Former Tory Party leader calls for benefits to be boosted in line with inflation

“Somebody should have said to the CMO: why are you so confident that there won’t be a vaccine by the end of the year? Why are you so confident that face masks won’t make a difference? How can it make any sense to keep letting flights in from Milan? 

“These weren’t very difficult questions, but it required politicians to be interested in the detail.”

Stewart’s intervention came after the publication of a damning report by a cross-party group of MPs, which said the pandemic represented “one of the most important public health failures the United Kingdom has ever experienced”.

The study, from the cross-party Science and Technology Committee and the Health and Social Care Committee, said the UK’s preparation for a pandemic was far too focused on flu, while ministers waited too long to push through lockdown measures in early 2020.

MPs said the UK’s pandemic planning was too “narrowly and inflexibly based on a flu model” that failed to learn the lessons from Sars, Mers and Ebola.

Former chief medical officer Professor Dame Sally Davies told MPs there was “groupthink”, with infectious disease experts not believing that “Sars, or another Sars, would get from Asia to us”.

Once Covid-19 emerged in China, MPs said the UK policy was to take a “gradual and incremental approach” to interventions such as social distancing, isolation and lockdowns.

In their study, they said this was “a deliberate policy” proposed by scientists and adopted by UK governments, which has now been shown to be “wrong” and led to a higher death toll.

Related: UK has worst Covid case and death rate in western Europe

Tags: rory stewart

Since you are here

Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.

Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.

Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.

If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.

To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.

The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.

The shop can be found here.

You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending on TLE

  • All
  • trending
Abdollah

‘Rescue us’: Afghan teacher begs UK to help him escape Taliban

CHOMSKY: “If Corbyn had been elected, Britain would be pursuing a much more sane course”

What If We Got Rid Of Prisons?

More from TLE

Southgate: I feel like my stomach has been ripped out

Adorable photographs show harvest mice playing in the spring sunshine

Couple move into Europe’s first 3D-printed house and rent is cheaper than one roll of PM’s wallpaper

Watch: Patel says migrants just want hotels as three people are lost in the Channel

Michael Eavis and Jacob Rees-Mogg back help young cancer patient raise over £100,000 in 2 days for treatment

PM believes violent criminals should spend more time behind bars

‘Clean the stables’: Johnson faces calls for urgent sleaze inquiry

Kilmarnock sign Juventus goalkeeper on loan

Sex assaults on Tube ‘up by 42% in four years’ with almost 1/4 of attacks on one line

May Day

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.