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Tory Brexiteer MP accused of spreading conflicting advice surrounding the coronavirus lockdown
Andrew Bridgen appears on Good Morning Britain. Photograph: ITV. - Credit: Archant
Tory Brexiteer MP Andrew Bridgen has been accused of spreading confusing advice following Boris Johnson's announcement on the easing of the coronavirus lockdown.
Brexiteer MP Andrew Bridgen (right) appearing on Good Morning Britain with Piers Morgan; Twitter - Credit: Archant
Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen appeared on Good Morning Britain (GMB) to tell presenter Piers Morgan that it was fine to visit people outside one's household as long as social distancing rules were maintained.
Picking up on the alleged confusion over new social distancing rules, Morgan criticised the MP for North West Leicestershire as having 'no clue' of what the measures 'actually' were.
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Morgan said: 'This is the problem Andrew Bridgen. You see, what you've just said is completely against the new rules as stated.
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'You've just told me to do something I'm not allowed to do.'
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In Sunday night's address to the nation, prime minister Boris Johnson lifted restrictions on exercise and work travel. He advised that the public could exercise more than once a day and urged workers who could travel to their workplace to do so. Advice around meeting people not living in the same household is yet to be defined.
Morgan blamed Bridgen for inflating that uncertainty: 'This is the problem, there is no clarity; it's a load of old flannel talking about controlling the virus and you, as a leading, high-profile Conservative politician haven't got a clue what these rules actually mean.'
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When Bridgen accused Morgan of a 'diatribe' against the prime minister, he replied: 'Let me explain what my diatribe is. We have, according to the government's own graphs, and you can spin them any way you like, the second worst death toll in the world...'
'When you come on and say, 'I heard your diatribe against Boris Johnson'; the diatribe is because so many people have died and so many people are continuing to die.'
'Bridgen doesn't even know his own set of rules!', tweeted viewer Neil Mortimer, before adding: 'What hope does the nation have.'
Otto English wrote: 'Andrew Bridgen MP would be out of his depth in an empty paddling pool.'
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