Quick to voice disapproval about others

News of Ms Duffield’s transgressions have been met with outrage following her vehement criticism of lockdown rule-breakers. Despite secretly meeting with her partner, the MP has regularly taken to social media to remind her followers of the importance of social distancing since the Covid-19 pandemic began. On April 30, in an interview with the Gazette’s sister television station KMTV, Ms Duffield referred to lockdown measures as “a matter of life and death”. “We have to stick with it,” she implored constituents. “I know it’s so tedious – we all want to get out there, especially as the weather gets nicer. But this is about saving lives.” She later said she was “really upset” to see large crowds flocking to Whitstable’s coastline. “The majority of people have been listening to government advice – there just seems to be a few,” she said. “We don’t want them bringing all the germs that they’ve left behind down to my constituency, thank you very much.”

On Twitter, Ms Duffield slammed the behaviour of beachgoers pictured standing in close proximity as they queued for food as “truly astonishing”.

She has also been critical of Dominic Cummings’ flouting of lockdown rules.

Just days before her own breaches came to light, the MP told the Gazette: “I have received hundreds of emails on the subject of Dominic Cummings, mostly people relating stories about their own personal family sacrifice. “I completely understand their hurt and frustration.”

She also retweeted a news article in which a fellow Labour MP, who had been unable to see her partner even after he suffered a heart attack, blasted Dominic Cummings.

Ms Duffield has since come under fire for this apparent doublestandard, which Prof Richard Scase describes as: “Do what I say, but I won’t do what I say.” Cllr Ashley Clark said: “I’ve detected quite a bit of anger generally about the hypocrisy of it, as she has been particularly outspoken. People that live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”