BRYANT HITS OUT AT PM'S 'LIES'

Labour's Chris Bryant

Chris Bryant has lashed out at Boris Johnson over the Spain quarantine and questioned whether Spain is on the brink of a second wave as figures suggest.  The Rhondda MP railed against the PM in an interview with LBC's Tom Swarbrick on Monday and managed to namecheck Dominic Cummings, Donald Trump and Brazil's right-wing president into the same tirade.  In something more reminiscent of a hard left MP, Bryant infers that right-wing governments are primarily to blame for the spread and refuses to acknowledge that socialist-run Spain is at risk of a second wave.

Whereas he won't condemn Spain, Bryant is happy to denounce Britain's chances: "I think there's a real possibility of a second spike in the UK" he says.  Why?  Because of our hapless lying Tory government of course!

In actual fact Spain has been decidedly less open about the true impact of the virus than our own government.  While it has recorded more Covid cases than the UK, Spain has somehow suffered considerably less Covid-related deaths.  The latest daily figures from Spain show that 1,828 new cases were recorded, but only two deaths.  On the same day the UK recorded just 581 new cases, but recorded 119 deaths.  Something doesn't add up there, but then Spain has never recorded care home deaths or anyone who dies without having first received a positive test.  The real death toll in Spain is much closer to Britain's if not in excess.

Labour politicians love to point out the death tolls under Johnson, Trump and Bolsonaro, but these men lead governments who are not actively concealing deaths like many countries have done.  Russia for instance has recorded almost three times as many cases as the UK, but strangely three times fewer deaths.  Still, if ardent Remainers like Bryant are to be believed, the Russians have probably been too busy working on Brexit to have noticed.

Captain Underpants of the Rhondda can be heard below.