Matt Hancock's department attempted to smear the Daily Mail on Sunday after it printed an article critical of the government's Covid strategy. In a sinister move the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) responded to the Daily Mail on Twitter by labelling its article 'misleading'. The tweet didn't explain why the article was wrong and, tellingly, it was later deleted.
The Daily Mail article used a number of publicly available sources such as the Office for National Statistics and Public Health England. It was heavily fact-based and exposed how there is simply no case for the current lockdown in England and ongoing restrictions elsewhere. Put simply, the public have been hoodwinked by overblown estimates, misinformation and outright scaremongering.
The intervention by the DHSC on Twitter provoked a furious response prior to its deletion, with ten times more engagement than the Daily Mail article itself. Many questioned why the DHSC response didn't specify exactly why the article was 'misleading', including prominent lockdown sceptics such as TalkRadio's Mike Graham.
The decision by the DHSC to delete their tweet was lauded as further proof of the government's deception. The Daily Mail article did, after all, use their own figures against them. They simply could not defend their position.
The UK government's decision to initiate further lockdowns without legitimate cause is a catastrophic error that will lead to ugly scenes in the months to come. 'Freedom passes' and 'mandatory vaccines' are not ideas that should ever be associated with a 'conservative' government, but this is the dystopian reality we are potentially about to enter.
The only hope for salvation is with the Conservatives themselves. While the growing backbench rebellion is still far from overwhelming, it can yet overturn the numbers in Parliament. There are now thought to be more than 70 MPs willing to vote against further restrictions, more than double the 32 who defied Tory whips on the second England lockdown. Pressure is also growing on Labour MPs, most of whom represent big urban conurbations where dissent is strongest, albeit they are less likely to rebel given it is in their party's interest to continue to wreck the economy and destroy lives.
Time to wake up, Boris, and return to your libertarian roots. The alternative is grim.
