8 1GM Wednesday December 2 2020 | the times
News
Matt Hancock revealed that his step-
grandfather died of Covid-19 two weeks
ago in an emotional speech before a
rebellion from Tory MPs against new
restrictions.
The health secretary fought back
tears as he spoke of his grandmother’s
husband, Derek, who died in Liverpool
on November 18. “We’ve lost a loving
husband, father, grandfather to this dis-
ease,” he said.
Speaking in the Commons, he urged
his colleagues to support the new
three-tier system of restrictions in Eng-
land, warning that the “only alter-
native” was another national lock-
down. “If this virus gets out of control...
it grows exponentially, hospitals come
under pressure and people die,” he said.
Mr Hancock closed a heated debate
on the new measures, which come into
effect today. The prime minister prom-
ised MPs there was “an end in sight” as
he sought to win over those worried
about the long-term impact of the re-
strictions. Boris Johnson said that sci-
entists were “about to deliver the means
to rout the virus” and that the tiered
system was necessary until vaccines al-
low us to “reclaim our lives”.
In response to Greg Clark (C, Tun-
bridge Wells), who pointed out “vast
differences” in infection rates within
areas in the same tier such as Kent, he
promised to “look in granular detail at
local incidence”.
However, cries of dissent came from
the former cabinet ministers David
Davis (C, Haltemprice & Howden),
who said measures had to be “massively
more targeted”, and Andrea Leadsom
(C, South Northamptonshire), who said
they would “inflict deliberate harm” on
her constituents. Jeremy Wright (C,
Kenilworth & Southam), the former at-
torney-general, announced that he
would rebel for the first time in a decade
because the measures would be “pro-
Boris Johnson told MPs there was “an
end in sight” to the virus restrictions
Quentin Letts
Served up with a
packet of MP nuts
C
ovid, they say, has
damaged the nation’s
mental health. It has
certainly pushed the
Commons pretty close to
the edge. Yesterday’s debate saw a
series of galloping, bug-eyed
backbench cameos that were, in
their way, magnificent — but not
always entirely sane.
‘Project Fear on steroids!’ was
how a bellowing Sammy Wilsongeography” (don’t ask me),
“granular detail” and “Scotch egg”.
Is a rusty cannon ball a “substantial
meal” or not? I find half of one is
about all I can manage. You
wouldn’t want to go swimming after
a whole one.
Sir Desmond Swayne (C, New
Forest West) prowled up and down
the Commons carpet like a hyena
driven half-mad by its zoo cage. He
demanded that ministers and their
loved ones be first to be punctured
by the vaccine. If that means the
whole Rees-Mogg family,
Astrazeneca may want to accelerate
its production line.
Sir Ed Davey spoke of “isolation”.
Lib Dems know about that. For
Mancunian Labour MPs the
pandemic was all about the Tories
hating t’North. Maria Eagle (Lab,
Garston & Halewood) yearned for
national “solidarity” and was soon
planning a socialist New Jerusalem.She was at least more interesting
than Sir Keir.
Adam Holloway (C, Gravesham)
said he had been to a pub. Not an
unknown event, quite possibly. He
criticised the measures and then,
abruptly, said he would support
them. Hic. Chris Grayling (C,
Epsom & Ewell) said that if you read
the French and German newspapers
you would see that the same
dilemmas afflicted other countries.
Get Grayling — reading Le Monde
nowadays. And Sir Charles Walker
(C, Broxbourne) made a terrific
speech about death. No government
could abolish it. Not every death
was a tragedy. What was tragic was
when old people die in loneliness
because the government stopped
their families hugging them. Maybe
Sir Charles could be asked to attend
Sage meetings to lend a certain
human perspective to their cold,
desiccated graphs.hot for their bottoms. Sir Keir
Starmer’s speech was almost
Corbynesque in its ineptitude. With
swathes of England gasping for
greater freedom and the economy
banjaxed, Sir Keir approached it
like day four of a mildly interesting
fraud trial. He wanted a stronger
lockdown. The house listened in a
state of catatonic paralysis, heads
back, mouths open, limbs akimbo.
Sir Keir is oratorical Valerian.
The prime minister stayed just 59
minutes, sloping off after the speech
of Sir Graham Brady (C,
Altrincham). Sir Graham, sceptical
of the government’s thieving of our
liberties, has become a formidable,
big-bottomed buffer. When he
speaks there is a sound of creaking
leather from his brogues as he
rocks to and fro. He treats Boris
like a troublesome member of the
lower sixth.
Words of the day were “human(DUP, East Antrim) described the
latest tier restrictions. Neil O’Brien
(C, Harborough) lowered his voice
and spoke conspiratorially of...
conspiracy theories. Tobias Ellwood
(C, Bournemouth East) was in
martial mode. “We should,” he
barked, “have moved to a war
footing!” Lieutenant Colonel
Ellwood was not wearing
battledress but easily could have
been, awaiting the signal to mount a
daring rescue of the cabinet. “No 10
has been overwhelmed,” he
reported, as though it had been
seized by rebel forces.
Things had started indifferently
with a disjointed, lazy speech from
Boris Johnson. The PM flicked
through his script and declared,
breezily, “we cannot afford to
relax”. No chance of that behind
him. Tory MPs were going nuts,
boinging up and down as though
their benches were Aga plates tooPolitical Sketch
News Coronavirus
Hancock’s emotional plea fails
foundly damaging” to businesses in his
area.
Several said the rules were an un-
acceptable encroachment on people’s
liberties. Sir Graham Brady (C, Altrin-
cham & Sale West), chairman of the
1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers,
warned: “If the government is to take
away fundamental liberties of the
people whom we represent, they must
demonstrate beyond question that they
are acting in a way that is both propor-
tionate and absolutely necessary.”
Sir Desmond Swayne (C, New Forest
West), said that allowing a vaccine to
become a “passport” to more freedoms
would “set the seal on this govern-
ment’s reputation as the most authori-
tarian since the Commonwealth of the
1650s”. Sir Charles Walker (C, Brox-
bourne), argued that “not all deaths are
equal” and that young people’s freed-
oms and futures were being sacrificed
to protect the elderly.
Others raised concerns about com-
pliance. Damian Green (C, Ashford),
the former deputy prime minister, rose
to oppose the motion, saying: “I put to
the prime minister last week the
thoughts of a constituent, who said that
if the government imposes stupid rules,
people will stop obeying the sensible
rules as well. This was sadly dismissed.”
Mr Green decried the move to relax
restrictions over five days at Christmas
in exchange for an “inevitable” increase
in January. “I very much hope that
won’t happen because if we do, we’ll
have exchanged a weekend of fun for a
long winter of regret to follow,” he said.
Steve Brine (C, Winchester), echoed
the point by saying: “Wouldn’t that be to
trip on the last barbed wire and blow it
just as the cavalry — in the form of the
vaccine — comes into view?”
Many MPs who supported the gov-
ernment did so reluctantly. Sir
Bernard Jenkin (C, Harwich & North
Essex), chairman of the Commons liai-
son committee, said: “The last thing I
want is to vote for these restrictions to-
day, but until there are better alterna-
tives we have no alternative, and should
support them.” Sir Edward Leigh (C,
Gainsborough), lamented: “How can I
vote against this measure tonight when
there is no alternative plan?”
Despite its reservations Labour ab-
stained to allow the restrictions to pass
in the “national interest”. Sir Keir
Starmer (Lab, Holborn & St Pancras),
accused Mr Johnson of not “levelling
with the British public”.
It was left to Mr Hancock to make the
final plea to MPs. “We can afford to let
up a little, we just can’t afford to let up
a lot,” he said. “We’ve got to beat this,
we’ve got to beat it together.”Eleni Courea Political Reporter Analysis
T
hat more than 60 Tory
MPs did not vote for
Boris Johnson’s new tier
system and 54 voted
against it is — by any
measure — a significant
rebellion (Francis Elliott writes).
The government whips were
briefing that 70 might rebel. That
was a sure sign they believed that
to be outlandishly pessimistic as
they sought to manage
expectations.
Privately some in government
hoped to keep the number of
Conservative rebels under 44,
previously the biggest rebellion
this parliament registered in
symbolic opposition to the now-
abandoned 10pm curfew in
October. In fact it smashes the 35
who voted against the second
lockdown on November 4,
arguably a more accurate
comparator because it too was a
meaningful vote.
Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to
order Labour MPs to abstain
helped inflate the rebellion since
Tory MPs knew that a vote
against was a “free hit”. The
prime minister was always all-but
certain to win, given the size of
the payroll vote — Tories knew a
vote against did not risk inflicting
defeat on the government.
Local pressures to oppose new
allocations that have seen many
Tory heartland areas placed
under restrictions for the first
time and some red wall seats
moved up to Tier 3 will have
weighed on some MPs.
Rows over tier boundaries and
the ill-advised impact
assessments produced on
Monday inflamed tensions
between No 10 and
backbenchers. Downing Street’s
reaction — a promise to
“continue to work with MPs” —
is the classic response of a
government that knows it has to
build bridges.
It’s also worth remembering
that Sir Keir suffered his own
rebellion as 15 Labour MPs voted
against the measures rather than
abstain as instructed.
Labour’s rebels ranged from
Richard Burgon, trying to be a
leader of the left, to Emma
Lewell-Buck, who thinks the tiers
are insufficiently targeted.Cocktails are on the menu as
Covent Garden’s bars reopen
today. The Dressing Room
in St Albans, inset, is hoping
that business will return