Raab met Anne AFTER trip to virus-hit Paris
DOMINIC Raab met Princess Anne just two days after visiting France – when concerns over the Beta variant of Covid in the country were at their height.
The Foreign Secretary, who did not wear a mask for the London meeting with 70year-old Anne, avoided UK quarantine rules for France , which at the time required ten days’ isolation. The revelation comes after Cop26 president Alok Sharma sparked controversy by using his ministerial exemption to visit six ‘red list’ countries without isolating on his return. When Mr Raab went to
Paris last month France was listed in the amber plus category, meaning even fully vaccinated visitors had to quarantine for ten days when they came home.
The designation caused fury because rates of the Beta variant of Covid were higher in other countries at the time.
There were also suggestions – denied by ministers – that France was only given amber plus status because its overseas territory La Reunion had high rates of the Beta variant. On July 26, Mr Raab visited Paris for talks with French foreign minister JeanYves Le Drian. On his return to the UK, he met Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta to sign an aid deal.
A day later, he visited the AstraZeneca plant in Oxford to see vaccines being made, then joined Anne in London to welcome world leaders to an education summit.
France has since returned to the regular amber list following anger from thousands of holidaymakers who had to cancel their trips and a diplomatic rift with Paris. Rules
declare that the Foreign Secretary is a Crown servant who can get a special Government certificate to avoid isolating after visiting countries with restrictions.
A Foreign Office spokesman defended Mr Raab, saying: ‘He’s the Foreign Secretary. It’s his job to represent the UK abroad.’
But Labour chairman Anneliese Dodds told The Sunday Mirror: ‘No wonder the Tories don’t understand the chaos they’ve created when ministers don’t apply the rules to themselves. Senior Conservatives are taking the public for fools. It’s always one rule for them and another for everyone else.’
Professor Christina Pagel, of the Government’s Sage advisory committee, said: ‘We’ve seen enough times that Cabinet ministers aren’t immune from Covid.
‘The biggest threat to the UK’s exit from the pandemic is a new, worse variant taking hold here.’