First we had Robert Jenrick, the Housing minister going off to his second home in the country, then we had Professor Neil Ferguson having his married girlfriend over to stay, then we had the infamous trip to Barnard Castle etc by DomCum and now this, the Mayor of Leicester (that’s right, the one with the CV spike)
Our message, very clearly, is stick together,” declared Sir Peter Soulsby, the mayor of Leicester, yesterday
It followed a week in which the 71-year-old Labour politician attacked the Government’s plan to combat a rise in cases as “cobbled together”, and insisted there was “nothing special” about the spread of the virus in his city.
By yesterday afternoon, he appeared to have finally warmed to the idea of reintroducing restrictions, even suggesting it should have been done earlier.
Behind the scenes, however, senior Whitehall officials revealed frustration at what they saw as incompetence and delaying tactics from Sir Peter and Leicester City Council.
One senior source pointed to Sir Peter’s own behaviour after he previously admitted breaking lockdown rules by visiting his girlfriend at her home
”This guy doesn’t like lockdown. He broke lockdown and had to be spoken to by the police over” a source quoted
“After Matt [Hancock] talked about it last Thursday, we got a load of s--- from people locally. Soulsby was going out saying it was a lie, there’s no outbreak, there’s just a few more cases. They’ve been in denial about this.”
This month, he was pictured up a ladder at his girlfriend’s house, despite telling the people of his city to “stay safe at home
Neighbours filmed him several times as he visited his partner Lesley Summerland, 64, in April and May. At the time, people were barred from travelling to any homes but their own and lovers were banned from overnight stays.
Police spoke to Sir Peter but no action was taken.
Who’s next?
Fashion for short, overweight woman
Should women have equal pay and opportunities?
To think that London, or anywhere else for that matter, does not belong to any one demographic
Prayer ban at Katharine Birbalsingh’s school is lawful, High Court rules .