Politics

Tory MP who snubbed doctor on GMB told 'Don't you dare disrespect NHS staff'

Tory MP who snubbed doctor on GMB told 'Don't you dare disrespect NHS staff'
Tory MP told to 'have some respect' after snubbing doctor on GMB
Independent

A doctor who was snubbed by a Tory MP on live television has called him out for being "disrespectful".

Writing on Twitter, palliative care doctor Rachel Clarke responded to a clip of Andrew Bridgen expressing gratitude about technical difficulties that cut her off while she was criticising the government's 'Living with Covid' strategy on Good Morning Britain (GMB) yesterday.

Clarke had been criticising the government's decision to stop the obligation for people with coronavirus to self-isolate. She said that while the Covid situation had improved with fewer hospitalisations and deaths, ending mandatory self-isolation was "not just irresponsible or reckless" but "underlies the dishonesty of the government rhetoric throughout" the coronavirus pandemic.

While she was speaking via video link, her connection appeared to fail and she froze. When Susanna Reid pointed that out, Bridgen said "thank goodness", causing Reid to say:

"Let's have some respect for somebody who works on the front line Andrew Bridgen."

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After the clip was distributed on Twitter and condemned by people, Clarke has today thanked Reid for calling him out for "sneering" at her.

"Don't you dare disrespect frontline NHS staff," she told Bridgen:

Your move, Bridgen. (We've contacted him for comment).

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