The hypocritic oath
●Chief Medical Officer admits she TWICE broke lockdown rules to visit her second home ●Police issue warning to Catherine Calderwood and opposition parties unite in call to resign ●But Nicola Sturgeon refuses to sack CMO citing ‘invaluable’ expertise on Co
Public information adverts featuring Scotland’s chief medical officer are being pulled after Catherine Calderwood was forced to make a grovelling apology for breaching the coronavirus guidelines that she helped to draw up – twice in the space of a week.
With the peak of the epidemic possibly days away, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was forced to step in and protect her top health adviser in an excruciating press conference in which Dr Calderwood’s conduct overshadowed grim news of several deaths at a Glasgow care home.
The chief constable of Police Scotland said Dr Calderwood had been visited by officers to remind her of the regulations that she herself has urged people to follow.
All Scotland’s opposition parties called for Dr Calderwood’s resignation, with the Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw saying her position was “untenable”.
Ms Sturgeon said the Chief Medical Officer effectively offered to resign on Saturday night after the Sun on Sunday revealed Dr Calderwood spent the night at her second home in the Fife village of Earlsferry, taking her entire family with her.
But the First Minister said it would
be “damaging not to have the ongoing advice and expertise” Dr Calderwood offered.
The Sun on Sunday newspaper printed pictures of Dr Calderwood strolling on the golf course in the north east Fife village with her husband and two children on Saturday. Locals in Earlsferry were quoted accusing the Chief Medical Officer of “double standards” for ignoring the official message to ‘stay at home, protect the NHS, and save lives’.
Responding to the report, the Scottish Government said she “took the opportunity this weekend to check on a family home in Fife as she knows she will not be back again until the crisis is over.”
But there was further embarrassment when the Chief Medical Officer joined Ms Sturgeon to face journalists in the daily briefing via videolink, as she was forced to admit having visited the property the previous weekend, with her husband.
Under health guidance that now forms part of emergency coronavirus legislation, people can only leave their homes to exercise outside, buy essential supplies or seek medical care, look after vulnerable people or those in isolation, and to go to work if they can’t do so from home – but only if their job is essential.
Hundreds of fines have been handed out by police forces across the UK to those breaching the guidelines, and the Scottish Government itself issued an angry warning to those with holiday homes or campervans not to visit isolated rural communities, to avoid spreading the virus where health facilities are limited.
Appearing at yesterday’s press conference, Dr Calderwoodsaidshehad“seenalotof the comments from members of the public on Twitter today, people calling me a hypocrite, people telling me what hardships they have endured while following my guidance.
“What I did was wrong, I’m very sorry. It will not happen again.”
She added: “I know how important the advice is that I have issued. I do not want my mistake to distract from that.
“This was a mistake, human error and there are no excuses. I can’t justify being away from my own home in Edinburgh and there are no reasons I could give you that would justify that.
“I have made a mistake. I have let people down. I’ve let the public in Scotland down, I’ve let my NHS colleagues down, and I apologise unreservedly for that.”
Ms Sturgeon said she did not know about Dr Calderwood’s visits to her second home, a drive of more than an hour from Edinburgh, until Saturday night.
The First Minister said: “The chief medical officer made a mistake in travelling away from her home. Whatever her reasons for doing so, it was wrong and she knows that.
“All of us, including me, will make mistakes in these unprecedented times we are living in. When we do we must be candid about it and learn from it.”
Ms Sturgeon said Dr Calderwood had “offered to do whatever is in the interests of the country”, but added: “In my view, that would not be her resignation.”
“If I’m to do what I need to do, to steer this country through the crisis to the very best of my ability, I need her to be able to focus on the job she is doing,” the First Minister said. “A job that – notwithstanding her mistake on this – she is doing extremely well.”
In a statement after Sunday’s briefing, Ms Sturgeon confirmed Dr Calderwood was withdrawing from the daily updates and she would also no longer feature in the Scottish Government’s advertising campaign.
She said: “I am acutely aware of the importance of public trust in the advice the government is giving to stay at home in order to save lives and protect our NHS.
“To maintain that trust we will be revising our public information campaign and the chief medical officer will be withdrawing from media briefings for the foreseeable future.
“She will continue to provide the Scottish Government with the scientific and medical advice on the spread of coronavirus.”
The chief medical officer also apologised for taking up police time and said she did not want to make the job of officers harder.
Police Scotland Chief Constable Iain Livingstone said officers who visited Dr Calderwood had “reiterated crucial advice and issued a warning about her future conduct, all of which she accepted”.
Mr Livingstone said: “The legal instructions on not leaving your home without a reasonable excuse apply to everyone… individuals must not make personal exemptions bespoke to their own circumstances.”
In a series of tweets, Scottish Police Federation General Secretary Calum Steele said the job of officers had “just got that little bit harder this morning”.
“There are literally thousands of families climbing the walls of their own homes des
“To maintain trust ... the chief medical officer will be withdrawing from media briefings for the foreseeable future. She’ll continue to provide advice”
NICOLA STURGEON
perate for respite and would love to perambulate by the sea but don’t,” Mr Steele said.
“We also have thousands of police making sure they don’t. You try being a police officer explaining that to someone today.”
In a joint statement, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie and Lib Dem MP Wendy Chamberlain, who both represent Northeast Fife, called on Dr Calderwood to resign.
“Local people are irate that holiday makers and second home owners have ignored the warnings from the chief medical officer to stay at home.
“The main street was described as being like a motorway and many second homes are full up.
“There is real concern that with a swollen population and a virus sweeping through, the local health services will just not cope.”
Scotland’s constitution secretary Mike Russell said there is no doubt Dr Calderwood’s visit – which the Scottish Government confirmed was an overnight stay to “check on a family home” – was “illadvised”.
Mr Russell added: “I’m saying to everybody... do not go out except in the very exceptional circumstances that are listed. Think about these things and remember by breaking them you are risking lives.”
Asked about Dr Calderwood at the daily Downing Street coronavirus briefing, UK health secretary Matt Hancock dodged the question, saying the matter was for the Scottish Government – but