COVID-19: Medical advisers risk turning country into ‘public health socialist state’, Conservative MP says in deleted tweet | Politics News

Medical advisers like Professor Chris Whitty are putting the country at risk of becoming a “public health socialist state,” a Conservative MP has said in a tweet which has now been deleted.

Beaconsfield MP Joy Morrissey, who is Justice Secretary Dominic Raab’s parliamentary private secretary, removed the post from her social media platform which had said: “Perhaps the unelected COVID public health spokesperson should defer to what our ELECTED Members of Parliament and the prime minister have decided.

“I know it’s difficult to remember but that’s how democracy works. This is not a public health socialist state.”

Her comments followed a Downing Street news briefing on Wednesday in which England’s chief medical officer Professor Whitty urged the public to consider which social contacts were important to them to try and slow the spread of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus.

Live COVID updates from the UK as Prof Whitty warns Omicron wave ‘will peak quite fast’

Boris Johnson has since said the government will not be making choices about people’s social lives, but urged individuals to be “cautious” in the lead up to the festive period.

Ms Morrissey was widely condemned for her remarks, including from an MP within her own party.

Former Northern Ireland secretary Julian Smith tweeted: “Personal attacks by any politician on members of the UK Civil Service are completely unacceptable.

“The UK Civil Service supports the government, works flat out and needs to be encouraged and defended in its role of offering impartial and confident advice.”

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting called her comments “outrageous”, adding: “It is outrageous to see a government PPS (parliamentary private secretary) attacking the chief medical officer in this way.

“She should apologise and withdraw this immediately. Chris Whitty has never…