Tory MP claims he was sent graffitied face mask calling school covid policies ‘abusive’

Tory MP Sir Desmond Swayne is at it again with his assault on face masks.

Posting on Twitter, the politician claimed someone had sent him a surgical mask with the words “PUTTING GERM/BACTERIA RIDDEN CLOTHS OVER KIDS FACES FOR 8+ HOURS IS ABUSIVE” written on it in marker pen.

Swayne added that he agreed with the statement.

The defaced mask refers to the recent update to school rules, making face masks in classrooms in England’s secondary schools mandatory to reduce the spread of Omicron.

The requirement will last until 26th January and is an extension to a previous policy last term which made students wear coverings in corridors between lessons.

It is not the first time Swayne - who voted against plan B measures brought in during December - has expressed his disagreement with mask rules albeit in a slightly odd manner.

He compared wearing masks to “going about like Darth Vader” in a 2020 interview with Channel 4 and also called them a “monstrous imposition” when they were first introduced in shops in summer 2020.

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Swayne is quite the wordsmith when it comes to opposing other Covid measures too. In December 2020 he tried to claim that “discriminating” against people who refuse to be vaccinated is “vaccinationism” and around a year later he claimed “carnage” on UK roads was killing more people than Covid - it isn’t.

Reacting to his latest intervention, people obviously gave him a thorough roasting.

We just hope whoever sent him the mask didn’t wear it first.