Govt needs masks to cover Afghan shame

AT the recall of Parliament for the debate on Afghanistan only three Conservative MPs wore face masks.

This was despite the Speaker’s request and Government guidance stating: ‘Face coverings should be worn in enclosed and crowded spaces’.

All opposition MPs wore masks. No doubt the decision not to wear masks had been made by Boris Johnson, given to the Tory whips and forced upon their sheepish MPs. No doubt Boris Johnson hoped for the good old days of howling approval for his bravado and braying scorn at the opposition. What he got was silence.

It was the silence of shame: shame at the loss of our soldiers’ lives and those of the Afghan people for such little gain; shame for the lack of foresight and planning; shame that when the Taliban were rapidly over-running the country, our Prime Minister went on holiday and our Foreign Secretary thought it unnecessary to return from sunning himself in Crete, even seemingly refusing to take a phone call to save the lives of those Afghans who had helped us.

It was shame for the sheer incompetence of a government mired in continual incompetence. It is a shame for which we should all wish to cover our faces.

Mike Baldwin, by email