MAKE THE MINISTER OF HYPOCRISY DO QUARANTINE!
After Mail exposé of Climate Tsar who took red list trips, clamour grows to...
JET-SETTING Alok Sharma must quarantine in a hotel like everyone else, angry travellers and MPs insisted last night.
The Climate Tsar was accused of hypocrisy when the Daily Mail revealed he had been exempted from self-isolation after visiting ‘red-list’ countries.
Highlighting what critics said was ‘one rule for them and another for us’, he will be allowed to return to his £1.7million home when he gets back from an official trip to Brazil.
At the same time, hundreds of British families are scrambling to flee Mexico to avoid a £2,285 bill for ten days of
quarantine in a hotel room after the country was moved on to the red list.
A senior Tory MP said Mr Sharma should self-isolate on his return from Brazil.
‘If you’re going to red-list countries then I think, irrespective of whether you are a minister or not, you have the potential to carry a deadly virus and pass it on,’ the MP said.
‘The law may allow it because there are exemptions, but I think when it comes to red-list countries they need to be very, very careful as to whether the meeting really was necessary and whether it could have been done virtually.
‘It’s not going down well with the public with two rules – one for them and one for us. Given that we’ve already had high-profile examples – Cummings, Jenrick, Hancock – it would have been prudent to quarantine.’ In other developments yesterday:
■ Boris Johnson did not self-isolate after a member of his team tested positive for Covid;
■ Other ministers jetted overseas at public expense and enjoyed activities like olive oil tasting and museum visits when most travel was restricted;
■ MPs will be able to claim back the cost of coronavirus tests for junkets abroad;
■ Covid infection levels have dropped by their biggest margin since lockdown meas
‘This was the icing on the cake’
ures were eased;
■ The UK recorded another 92 virus deaths and a further 31,808 cases yesterday.
Mr Sharma has travelled tens of thousands of miles over the past seven months to prepare the ground for the COP26 global environment summit in Glasgow this autumn.
He sparked accusations of hypocrisy for flying to at least 30 countries while urging them to commit to net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
And despite visiting at least six countries on the UK’s travel ‘red list’, he has been given a ministerial exemption from hotel quarantine each time. He has also been able to avoid having to isolate at home following ‘amber list’ trips. Days after returning from red-list Bangladesh, Mr Sharma met Prince Charles indoors without a mask – then visited a primary school.
Ordinary travellers face fines of up to £10,000 for breaking travel quarantine rules. Gillian Scott, 36, is isolating in a hotel with her student daughter Jenna, 19, after returning to the UK from Dubai where she was visiting her terminally-ill father Hughie Cochrane.
Mrs Scott, who cares for vulnerable children, asked to avoid quarantine on compassionate grounds but was refused.
‘When I asked to be spared quarantine because of my situation there was no compassion,’ she said. ‘I’m really not sure if my requests were even read. I then woke up to discover Alok Sharma keeps being able to avoid quarantine.
‘I’m already suffering anxiety because of my father, but this was the icing on the cake. It’s utterly infuriating.
‘We’re stuck in what feels like a prison while he gets to float in and out of the UK as if life is normal. I’m so upset, I’ve been crying.’
A mother of two, who had to quarantine in a hotel at Heathrow after returning from South Africa with her family, accused Mr Sharma of ‘complete hypocrisy’.
The 34-year-old said: ‘Our quarantining experience was so awful and disgusting. We had to endure a dirty room and food that made us ill. So, to hear that this minister can skip quarantine is so unfair.
‘I can’t tell you how upset that makes me feel. I think it’s completely hypocritical.’ Paul Charles chief executive of the PC Agency, a travel consultancy, said: ‘It’s again an example where ministers seem to be living in a different world to the rest of us.
‘If I’m a small business and I travel abroad on essential business, which I would regard as protecting jobs or creating jobs, then does this now mean that I can avoid quarantine as well?’ Labour frontbencher David Lammy said the number of international journeys Mr Alok undertook was ‘bizarre’ considering his environment role.
But the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: ‘As COP26 president, Alok Sharma is leading climate negotiations with countries including major emitters to cut emissions and secure ambitious action ahead of the summit. The majority of this
work is done remotely but some travel to key countries for face-to-face talks is essential.
‘He has secured ambitious action as a result of the discussions he has had. For example, immediately following his visit to Japan and South Korea the governments there committed to ambitious net zero targets which was a key ask from the UK.’ Asked if Mr Sharma would quarantine on his return from Brazil, the spokesman replied: ‘He will continue to comply with the rules as set out.’
The Cabinet minister lives in Reading with wife Ingela and their two daughters.