Lichfield’s MP has made the area a national laughing stock, a Lib Dem councillor has claimed.
It comes after Michael Fabricant tried to defend the Prime Minister following his fine for attending a lockdown party by suggesting nurses and teachers were enjoying “a quiet drink” in staff rooms too.
But the Conservative MP’s words drew anger from unions and representatives of both professions.
Cllr Hugh Ashton, Lichfield City Council representative for the Garrick Road ward, said Mr Fabricant was dragging the name of the area through the mud.
“He has made himself and by extension, the constituency of Lichfield, a laughing-stock throughout the country.
“On Twitter and indeed on national broadcast and print media, his attempts to defend the Prime Minister’s breaking of the rules have met with disgust and incredulity.
“Professional bodies representing those accused by Mr Fabricant of breaking the rules pointed out that teachers and nurses at the end of their exhausting shifts had neither the energy nor the inclination to indulge in the kind of partying confirmed to have taken place in Downing Street on Mr Johnson’s watch.”
Cllr Hugh Ashton, Lichfield City Council
Mr Fabricant sought to clarify his initial claims that “many” teachers and nurses were drinking in staff rooms during lockdown. He said:
“Over the last year, a teacher and two nurses have told me that they had some sympathy with the Prime Minister as after an exhausting day at work they too had had a drink with their workmates.
“They felt it safe as they had not mixed with others and, frankly, I cannot blame them.
“Those nurses had been working hard for many hours trying to save lives and their quick drink with close work mates could not have spread the disease.
“I am sure most other nurses and teachers stuck to the letter of the law as did I.”
Michael Fabricant MP
But Cllr Ashton said the lack of a complete apology and retraction was unacceptable – and insisted it was time for local Conservative figures to speak out.
“Many teachers and nurses used Twitter to point out that in their places of work the consumption of alcohol in school staff rooms and in hospital rest rooms was against all regulations – pandemic or no pandemic.
“Mr Fabricant’s response, rather than being an apology, was a doubling-down of his accusations, saying that he had been informed by unnamed ‘whistleblowers’ that such socialising had taken place with a minority of the key workers he had accused of breaking the law, which raises the question as to why he, as a professed supporter of the rule of law, did nothing.
“There has been a deafening silence from the local Conservative Association and from the Conservative leadership of both Lichfield City Council and Lichfield District Council – we are left wondering whether party loyalty is stronger for those people than loyalty to basic ethical principles and the rule of law?
“Lichfield and Burntwood Liberal Democrats unequivocally condemn Mr Fabricant’s unsubstantiated and derogatory remarks regarding key workers, his continued defence of actions which have been regarded as illegal following investigations by the police and his unwavering support for a Prime Minister who seems to make a habit of misleading Parliament and refusing to correct the record.
“We wait for the local Conservatives to do the same, but we are not holding our breath.”
Cllr Hugh Ashton, Lichfield City Council
