Health Secretary Matt Hancock has been roundly criticised for telling Labour MP – and frontline key worker, Dr Rosena Allin-Khan – to adjust her tone and make it more like that of her male colleague.
Grazia cover star, Dr Rosena Allin-Khan has returned to the frontline and been working for the NHS during the coronavirus outbreak. She’s recently been made the Shadow Minister for Mental Health and was asking questions of Mr Hancock in parliament today.
'Frontline workers like me have had to watch families break into pieces as we deliver the very worst of news to them, that the ones they love most in this world have died,' she said, before calling the government’s testing strategy, ‘non-existent’ and claiming figures were ‘being manipulated’.
In response, Mr Hancock said: ‘I welcome the honourable lady to her post. I think she might do well to take a leaf out of the shadow secretary’s book in terms of tone.’
Speaking on Twitter, Dr Allin-Khan said ‘I will not “watch my tone” when dozens of NHS and care staff are dying unnecessarily.’
The MP has since seen a huge outpouring of support. MP Harriet Harman pointed out that it wasn’t bad enough that Dr Allin-Khan was asked to check her tone, but that she was told to adopt a man’s – Shadow Health Secretary, John Ashworth.
Labour MP Diane Abbott also backed her colleague, saying: 'I was watching Health Questions. Absolutely nothing wrong with your tone. It reflects and reverberates with the reality of what yourself and other NHS workers are experiencing. Hancock very unwise to be so dismissive.'
She was also praised by Nigella Lawson whose Tweet has been liked more than 5,000 times.
Speaking about her experiences in a Grazia magazine cover interview last month, Dr Allin-Khan said: 'On my way home from the hospital, I call ahead to tell my family not to let my two little girls, who are five and six, run up to hug me at the door. Before I can be with them, I have to shower and wash my clothes. All the time I’m terrified of spreading the infection to the people I love.'
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