Nurses and teachers anger over MP's lockdown drink comment

Teachers and nurses in Wales have said claims by a Tory MP that they would drink in staff rooms during lockdown were "upsetting" and "offensive".

Lichfield MP Michael Fabricant said Boris Johnson behaved like teachers and nurses in the pandemic.

Associate director for nursing policy at Royal College of Nursing Wales said nurses were "astounded" by the comments.

Diana Powles added: "The feeling of anger is quite incredible."

The Conservative MP added the prime minister needed to apologise after being fined, but said Mr Johnson would not have thought he was breaking the law.

Teaching leaders have criticised the comments as "deeply insulting" while the Royal College of Nursing said it was "utterly demoralising" and wanted to formally complain.

Mr Fabricant made the claims when reacting to Mr Johnson being fined for attending a birthday party thrown for him during a Covid lockdown .

Kerrie Jones is a higher level teaching assistant at a school in Ebbw Vale, Blaenau Gwent, and said Mr Fabricant's comments made her "completely enraged".

"I've spent my time during the pandemic, like many others, looking after children of essential workers and delivering food parcels to vulnerable children and families that needed.

"There was no way we were in the staff room having a jolly and his comments were totally inappropriate and made me very angry."

She added that hearing those comments from someone in political power makes her think that they are just totally out of touch with this country.

"There was no way we would even entertain these things, whether it was a pandemic or not, we were all professional - we listened to the rules of what Boris Johnson and the government were saying.

"They were setting out what we could do, when we could see loved ones, in my own family I couldn't attend weddings and funerals, yet they were having their little jolly parties at number 10 - it just makes a mockery of the whole country really."

Claire Jones, a teacher from Colwyn Bay, Conwy county, said all teachers had gone above and beyond during lockdown.

"They are heroes and I am proud of what we achieved with little notice in awful circumstances.

"The comments have confirmed to me how little the teaching profession is valued."

Ms Jones said she taught children of key workers in ther morning during lockdown, followed by virtual lessons for her own class in the afternoon.

"I followed the guidelines to the letter, I had frightened children dealing with a scary new world, trying to teach them and give them some normality, something familiar.

"I stayed in my bubble with my key worker children, which meant no breaks to go to the toilet, let alone the staff room - all because we wanted to keep the children as safe as possible."

Hannah Goodman, a ward manager at a psychiatric ward in England, but who is originally from Anglesey, said Mr Fabricant's comments were amusing but infuriating.

"So many of us were working so hard, flat out, at that time with a virus we didn't fully understand.

"And there was so much worry and anxiety, we were working in really difficult conditions, and we would all have loved to have been able to have a break."

She added that people were so exhausted and there was no "merrymaking".

"I can say 100% that we did not engage in any activities outside of work."

Wayne Jones, from Ruthin, Denbighshire, was working on a Covid ward during the first wave at Holywell Hospital and said the comment made him feel very frustrated.

"I find his attitude and his words upsetting after everything we went through.

"He is so out of touch, just trying to get a drink of water was hard enough, yes once I had drove home after my long 12-hour shift was over I had a glass of whisky, but we didn't have alcohol for staff to drink in the hospital and we didn't mix with other staff, he's a joke.

Mr Jones said he felt Mr Fabricant was trying to mislead, misinform and was "changing the narrative, apportioning blame".

He added: "We all worked very hard and we supported one another, I went to work not knowing how bad the situation was and was frightened - I didn't know if we would die."

Rhian Bethell, from Merthyr Tydfil, is an A&E nurse in Cardiff, and said it was an "absolute disgrace".

"It wasn't just myself who made sacrifices on the front line, you're talking about thousands of nurses up and down the country.

"Boris Johnson stood on his door [saying] 'everyone clap for the NHS', in all his Covid briefings he was saying 'Stay Home, Protect the NHS' and to find out he was at a party - he is meant to be leading our country, it's a shambles.

"I just don't have any words. I'm shocked, I'm disgraced, but I'm angry."

Ms Bethell added that she missed her daughter's fourth birthday because she contracted Covid trying to help other people and, although she lived in a home with her father, she could not hug him or go anywhere near him for six months.

"I'm utterly angry, disappointed and I'm meant to trust this man to guide our country in the future, if he had any morals or any principles then he'd step down," she added.

Ms Powles said the actions of the prime minister and the chancellor had been "exceptionally disappointing".

"The feeling of anger is quite incredible, at the end of a very, very long shift - and remember for some it wasn't 12 hours - it was 24 or 48 hours - no they weren't going off to rooms to have a drink.

"What they were trying to do was get a drink of water to keep themselves hydrated and maybe to have that quick phone call with their families and loved ones that they hadn't seen."