Nottinghamshire MP Brendan Clarke-Smith has come under fire after making comments about people using Covid for 'political agendas'. It comes after the Bassetlaw Conservative MP appeared on the Jeremy Vine show on Channel 5 on Tuesday morning (June 7) alongside Nottingham East Labour MP Nadia Whittome.
Mr Clarke-Smith, who has continued to be vocal in his support of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has since received strong backlash on social media. He claimed that Boris Johnson has the support of more MPs than Labour's Keir Starmer did when he ran for leader, after the outcome of the PM's vote of confidence.
During the panel show Nadia Whittome questioned MrClarke-Smith over his attitude to the pandemic. She asked: "How can you look your constituents in the eye, someone who went to their grandparents' funeral on Zoom, and tell them that you failed in your duty to force the Prime Minister to resign?"
Read more: Newark MP makes statement on Prime Minister Boris Johnson no confidence vote
The Bassetlaw MP replied: "It is not my duty at all Nadia and, I will be honest, I am getting a bit sick and tired of people using personal tragedies and what has happened with Covid to try and further their party political agendas. Really, there are people who dislike Boris Johnson for winning the General Election, the dislike him for Brexit, some dislike his character.
"I find it really distasteful; actually I think with the way that Covid is continually being pushed as a way of forcing him out because people can't do it during an election. That is not to say that people didn't do things wrong, people should not have apologised for things but again, let's put this into perspective, when I knock on doors, yes, it is acknowledged but it certainly not the biggest issue affecting people's lives at the moment."
Viewers were quick to express their reaction to Mr Clarke-Smith's comments, with one person on Twitter saying: "How dare he." Paul Fernandez added: "Does he not think that people make political decisions on the basis of their personal experience?! 'My job is more important than the tragedies you experienced as a consequence of government mismanagement'."
@Reedmal said: "Keir Starmer was in a competition with other candidates, Johnson was in a competition with himself and still did badly." Another user, Tony McDonnell, posted: "And the public are sick and tired of never-ending lies and uselessness in Parliament!"
Brendan Clarke Smith was a guest on the Jeremy Vine show under a segment questioning whether Boris Johnson was right to come out fighting after he won the vote of confidence last night. The Nottinghamshire MP voted in support of Boris, alongside 210 other MPs. There were 148 votes against, and, therefore, a majority of 63. But it's since been reported the PM has been warned he could face another confidence vote in six months if the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs alters rules.
