Top Tory Tobias Ellwood has launched a bizarre rant about striking rail workers, accusing unions of being "Putin's friend" and distracting Boris Johnson from focusing on Russia's war on Ukraine.
The senior MP, who chairs the Commons Defence Select Committee, claimed Vladimir Putin was "enjoying the self-inflicted distraction" of the rail walkout as he appealed for fresh talks.
Unions are staging a walkout over pay as workers face a cost of living crisis, with inflation looks set to climb as high as 11% later this year.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has refused to join talks to sort out the dispute, but Mr Ellwood made to pile pressure on striking workers with baffling claims about Britain getting distracted from the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
"I say to the unions: please don't be Putin's friend," he said in an interview with Sky News' Kay Burley. "Please return to the talks so we can get the country moving again."
Strikes will resume tomorrow, before breaking for Friday and continuing for a third day on Saturday.
Just 60% of trains will run across Thursday, and some operators will wind down services slightly earlier than normal tonight ahead of Thursday’s walkouts.
The third strike of the week is planned for Saturday.
Around 40,000 members of the RMT union at Network Rail and 13 train operators are involved in the industrial action.
"We're talking about the cost of living crisis," said Mr Ellwood.
"We face huge economic headwinds, yet here we are causing such self-harm as the country is brought to a halt.
"I think Russia must be enjoying the self inflicted distraction, pleased to see that the one government in Europe that is actually standing up to Putin is completely distracted in this way.
"I do hope that the unions now call off future planned strikes, put a new deal on the table.
"This is not just disrupting commuters, including key workers but also students as well and indeed the hospitality sector such as in Bournemouth, plus nationally will lose about £1bn this weekend."
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said the turnout at picket lines on Tuesday was “fantastic” and had exceeded expectations in the union’s campaign for job security, defending conditions and a decent pay rise.
He said: “Our members will continue the campaign and have shown outstanding unity in the pursuit of a settlement to this dispute.
“RMT members are leading the way for all workers in this country who are sick and tired of having their pay and conditions slashed by a mixture of big business profits and Government policy.
“Now is the time to stand up and fight for every single railway worker in this dispute that we will win.”
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “These are desperately needed reforms that modernise the railway and put it on a sustainable footing for passengers and taxpayers.
“Unions have shut down big parts of the rail network, hitting local businesses and unfairly cutting people off from hospitals, schools and work.
“However, early data shows that unlike in the past, many people now have the opportunity to work from home, so we haven’t even a rush to the roads, as traffic has instead gone online, which means the unions aren’t having the overall impact they might have hoped.”
