Ferrier is urged to quit by First Minister
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has called on Margaret Ferrier to quit as an MP after she made a “monumental” error of judgment by taking a train from London to Scotland when she knew she had tested positive for coronavirus.
The Scottish First Minister said she had spoken to Ms Ferrier – who has had the whip withdrawn by the SNP – and made it “crystal clear” she should resign her seat, though the MP did not reveal what she intends to do.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson told BBC Scotland it is vital “everyone obeys the rules and the guidance” regarding coronavirus.
He said that in March and April, people in Scotland and across the UK “came together and got the virus down”, but he added:
“Alas what happened since then is that everyone got a bit… complacent and a bit blase.
“I think everybody should stick to the rules and that’s what they are there for. We’ve seen they did make a huge difference.” Speaking at her daily coronavirus briefing yesterday, the First Minister could not hide her displeasure with her former party colleague and said Ms Ferrier should “come to the right decision” and step down as an MP. Ms Sturgeon said: “This was a monumental, actually almost incomprehensible, error of judgment on Margaret’s part, and I can’t make my feelings on that any clearer than I am doing.
“There surely can be nobody in this country who doesn’t know that if you have a positive test for Covid you should isolate yourself, and you certainly shouldn’t sit on a train for six hours taking a 450- mile journey.”
Ms Ferrier issued an apology on Thursday evening as she revealed she was tested for coronavirus on Saturday after developing symptoms, but then took a train to Parliament on Monday when she should have been self- isolating.
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police has launched an investigation into reported breaches of coronavirus regulations by MP Margaret Ferrier. In a statement, the force said: “An investigation is under way into reported breaches of the Health Protection Regulations 2020.”
WHAT did you do during the great pandemic of 2020 great granny Margaret? Me? Oh I was an MP and I just did as I pleased.
Really?
I remember this one time I felt no well, so I booked a test. Then I got on a train for 400 miles to London. Oh, that was just me.
Oh, what happened then, great granny?
Well, the test came back as positive so I got on another train and travelled the same 400 miles back the way.
Oh, great granny what are you like? Were you listening to Ian Brown or Noel Gallagher on your iPhone?
Naw, Van Morrison. I know, I suppose I’m like that Catherine Calderwood or that Dominic Cummings. You’ve probably heard of them at the school. Oh, I was raging with him and said he should resign.
Oh great granny Margaret. Can we go Barnard Castle again today.?
Aye alright. C’mon then.
Where’s ma specs?
Nicola Sturgeon said Margaret Ferrier could not give her a cogent explanation for why she blatantly ignored the coronavirus guidelines and travelled 400 miles on public transport having tested positive.
Of course she couldn’t, because there isn’t one.
There is however, other explanations available.
The most likely is the same one that most likely also applied to Dominic Cummings and Catherine Calderwood. Yes, don’t think we have forgotten about you two.
It is that they thought the rules don’t apply to them. At least not in the same way as they do everyone else.
Why else would an MP, on experiencing symptoms of a potentially deadly, and highly contagious virus that has shut down the whole world, decide to take a train 400 miles to go to work.
Remember that she thought the symptoms were severe enough to be tested for the virus.
And then when the test comes back as positive, would you then decide to make the same journey in reverse, knowingly putting others at risk?
How many others? How did Margaret Ferrier get from Westminster to the train station? The most likely and quickest route is the London Underground.
Again, knowingly putting countless staff and fellow passengers at risk.
How did she get from Central Station in Glasgow to her home? Taxi perhaps.
At so many points on that journey, Margaret Ferrier must have thought ‘ Am I putting others at risk? Is what I am doing acceptable?’
And yet at every single point she decided to carry on and move though the UK, from London to Glasgow while knowing she is a carrier of a virus that so far has been responsible for the deaths of more than one million people worldwide.
She carried on and the only explanation for doing so is she was not thinking about other people, only herself.
There are no exemptions to the rule you need to isolate if you test positive.
There are no special circumstances in that case whereby you do not need to follow the rules.
You need to self- isolate.
Scottish MPs have accommodation in London they stay in midweek when Parliament is sitting.
She did not need to travel hundreds of miles back to Scotland. She could have selfisolated there. She shouldn’t have travelled to London in the first place.
There are questions about the timings of who she told and when but that is primarily a matter for the SNP and the House of Commons authorities to deal with.
For the rest of us it doesn’t matter whether she told Ian Blackford or the Commons Speaker.
What matters is she thought she was above the rules that the leader of her party is every single day asking everyone else to abide by.
At the time of writing this Margaret Ferrier had not resigned.
Despite calls from the
First Minister, her Leader at Westminster and several of her party colleagues, she was still an MP.
She cannot continue to be an MP. She has no authority, no respect and no legitimate mandate to be the representative of the people of Rutherglen and Hamilton West anymore.
The actions of Cummings, Calderwood and Ferrier have the effect of diluting the message that we need to take the advice seriously.
In the case of the first two, it led to some people thinking if those making the rules are not going to follow them, then why should I.
They breached the rules at a time when Covid- 19 was increasing across the country.
Margaret Ferrier has breached the rules at a time when cases are again rising.
Most people thankfully will understand that their behaviour doesn’t mean the rest of us should abandon the effort to stop the virus spreading even more.
In fact it leaves it to the rest of the population to take it seriously, despite the actions of a few people in positions of power and influence who should know better.
She has no authority, no respect