IF you’re a fan of seeing Tory MPs make a mess of things on social media, all your Christmases have come at once.
This time, it’s Nadine Dorries who prompted the familiar symphony of face palms at Conservative HQ.
The Health Minister – who you’d like to think would have a pretty good idea of the UK Government’s strategy on health – was caught out on Twitter.
She took to social media after England’s deputy chief medical officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, warned the public had "relaxed too much" about coronavirus over the summer.
READ MORE: This Tory MP just admitted that Scotland has no power at Westminster
Wherever the public may have got the idea that the pandemic was no longer a major threat was anyone’s guess. Steve Hawkers, a director at an international communications firm and a former political adviser, had a go.
He posted: "Public 'too relaxed' about Covid? They were told to shop, take a summer holiday and that it would be over by Xmas."
Dorries, issued a swift correction. “No one who knew anything about the pathology of #Covid19 ever said it would be over by Christmas,” she tweeted.
No one who knew anything about the pathology of #Covid19 ever said it would be over by Christmas. https://t.co/gClcj4Sm4F
— Nadine Dorries 🇬🇧#StayAlert (@NadineDorries) September 8, 2020
However, as it turns out, Boris Johnson had in fact said on July 17 that he hoped the UK could return to “normality” by Christmas, as pointed out by writer James Felton.
I agree pic.twitter.com/rPSiMZK7xr
— James Felton (@JimMFelton) September 8, 2020
Speaking at that day’s daily briefing, he said: “It is my strong and sincere hope that we will be able to review the outstanding restrictions and allow a more significant return to normality from November, at the earliest, possibly in time for Christmas.”
So either Dorries hasn't been paying any attention to what the PM has been telling the public – or she thinks he doesn't have a clue what he's talking about.
Finally, an approach from a Tory minister that we can get behind.
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