MP slammed for comparing Boris Johnson's lockdown party to nurses finishing shift

An MP has been branded "factually incorrect" for comparing Boris Johnson attending a birthday party in Downing Street to nurses and teachers' actions at the end of a shift.

The Prime Minister has been handed a £50 fine in relation to a gathering in the Cabinet Room on June 19 2020 to mark his 56th birthday.

Speaking about the incident, Lichfield MP Michael Fabricant said: “I don’t think at any time he thought he was breaking the law… he thought just like many teachers and nurses who after a very long shift would go back to the staff room and have a quiet drink.”

Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, wrote to the MP saying: “We remain at the forefront of pandemic response. Despite political narrative, as health and care professionals we know the Covid-19 context is nowhere near over.

"While you position yourself with some authority as to the behaviour and actions of nurses during the pandemic, I’d like to inform you of the following facts.

“Throughout the pandemic, and still certainly, now, most days, nurses and nursing support workers, when finally finishing a number of unpaid hours well past shift end, will get home, clean their uniforms, shower and collapse into bed.

“Throughout the early pandemic, this was often alone, for the protection of others – kept away from family, friends and support networks. These shifts in communities, in hospitals, anywhere people are, are long, unrelenting, understaffed and intense.

“At the end of one of the many hours, days and years we have worked, since recognition of the pandemic, I can assure you that none of us have sought to hang out and ‘have a quiet one in the staff room.’

"There isn’t a site in England that would allow alcohol on the premises for any professional to consume during working hours.

“As frontline professionals, we are still dealing with the implications of the pandemic – understaffed, underpaid, overworked, exhausted, burnt out and still holding it together while doing the best we can for our patients.

"It is utterly demoralising and factually incorrect to hear you suggest that our diligent, safety critical profession can reasonably be compared to any elected official breaking the law, at any time.”

Teaching unions also condemned the MP's comments, describing them as a “slur on the teaching profession”.

In a letter to Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said his suggestion was “wholly inaccurate and deeply insulting” to teachers as a profession.

“I cannot overstate the hurt and anger these comments have caused,” he added.

He said that during the pandemic, headteachers had followed Government guidance “meticulously” and that Mr Zahawi himself had praised them for doing so.

He said that most teachers had kept to small bubbles during the pandemic and that many had eaten lunch alone in their classrooms.

Mr Whiteman said that during the pandemic, headteachers and other school staff had worked “tirelessly” implementing “ever-changing” Government guidance.

“They supported the most vulnerable, ensured that children were fed and effectively reinvented how education was delivered in a matter of weeks.

“The demands placed on them were enormous, as you know,” he said.

He said the comments by Mr Fabricant had done “enormous damage” and were “entirely unjustified”.