Why I am standing by my letter of no confidence in Boris Johnson
My constituents told me personal, painful stories of how they stuck to the rules. They deserve better from their leaders
Some emails stick in your mind for ever, and during the pandemic there have been many of them. The personal stories are the hardest to read, the ones about loved ones in care homes, unable to receive visitors for months on end, the socially distanced funerals, the weddings, postponed again and again and eventually cancelled. But one this week has surpassed all others. It was from a constituent who lost his three-year-old child to a terminal illness. The family abided by all the rules, held a funeral for 30 people, made phone calls to loved ones and relatives and told them they could not attend the funeral because that would break the limit on numbers.
There are those who say these emails are only from “the usual suspects”. It is true to say there have been a smattering from political activists who send an automated email at the drop of a hat, but they are very much in the minority. The bulk of the emails I received last week are from people who are genuinely distressed about the family events they could not and did not attend during the pandemic, and many are from people I know who have long been Conservative supporters.
Read the original article at The Guardian