Two Harrogate district women who lost parents during the pandemic have given their reaction to the news the Prime Minister and Chancellor will receive fines for lockdown parties.

Tracey Jones and Tracy Atkinson were unable to be with their parents as they died due to covid restrictions and found it difficult to hear about the parties at Downing Street.

Ms Jones, from Ripon, lost her dad Tony Wass in February 2021. She said the Prime Minister should resign saying his actions were “selfish and barbaric”.

Tony Wass, aged 58, after completing a Great North Run.

She said:

“I couldn’t hold my dad’s hand as he died but our Prime Minister was having parties. I do think he should resign but I understand they can’t all resign. I can’t put it into words, it makes me so angry. They are supposed to be leading by example but instead they were being completely selfish.

“They were just so out of touch with what people were going through. If he doesn’t resign he needs to meet with families face to face to make him understand what we went through.”

In June 2020, Tracy Atkinson from Harrogate lost her mum Carol Ann Alton. Carol didn’t die of coronavirus but because she was in a care home her daughter couldn’t be with her:

“It’s a joke, so many people were desperate to be with their loved ones but couldn’t. I think they need bigger fines but if he did resign who would take over? There’s no much going on in the world now and we need a steady leader, however upsetting I find his actions.”

Carol Ann Alton (centre bottom), her son Richard, husband Richard and daughter Tracy.

Read more:

• Harrogate district MPs silent on Boris Johnson’s future
• Charity Corner: the local charity supplying 36,000 wheelchairs worldwide

Susie Little set up the Facebook group Covid Co-Operation, Harrogate, as the first lockdown began, and co-ordinated a huge amount of community support. Speaking today, she said:

“It is yet another insult to the families of people of all ages who died alone from Covid 19 and were denied basic human rights and rituals by the very people who created and imposed the lockdown rules.”

The three Conservative MPs whose constituencies include the Harrogate district have remained silent so far on whether Boris Johnson should resign.

Number 10 said today that the Prime Minister and his wife Carrie, plus Chancellor Rishi Sunak, had been notified by the Metropolitan Police that they would be given fixed penalty notices.

The Met, which is investigating alleged covid law-breaking at 12 Whitehall and Downing Street gatherings, has issued more than 50 fines.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer today led calls for Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak to resign.

Harrogate district MPs (from left) Nigel Adams, Andrew Jones and Julian Smith.

The Stray Ferret reported in January that Andrew Jones, who represents Harrogate and Knaresborough, had said in a letter to a constituent:

“I followed coronavirus restrictions. I take the maxim ‘lawmakers can’t be lawbreakers’ seriously.”

Mr Jones added:

“In respect of the investigation announced by the Prime Minister in December, if this finds wrongdoing, and the police find that these actions were criminal, then consequences must flow from that.”

Read more:

• Oliver Bonas set to open store in Harrogate
• Andrew Jones MP urges Northern to ‘rethink’ cuts to Harrogate trains

The Stray Ferret contacted Mr Jones today asking for his views on today’s fixed penalty notice and whether he felt Mr Johnson should resign.

We also contacted Julian Smith, MP for Skipton and Ripon, and Nigel Adams, MP for Selby and Ainsty, to ask whether they felt Mr Johnson should resign.

At the time of publication, none had replied.

Skipton and Ripon MP Julian Smith urged Boris Johnson to adopt a “more humane approach” to Ukrainian refugees at Prime Minister’s Questions today.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Smith, a Conservative, said to Mr Johnson:

“People across the country are genuinely concerned at our response on refugees, on the bureaucracy, on the tone of our response.

“He’s shown with vaccines that government change really comes from the very top. Please can I urge him to look again at resetting our policy and taking control of a more humane approach to those women and men fleeing from Ukraine.”

Mr Johnson replied that this government “have done more than any other to resettle vulnerable people since 2015”.

Mr Johnson responds to Mr Smith.

He added:

“I think there is a huge opportunity now for us to do even more and that’s why my friend, the Rt Hon Secretary of State for Levelling Up will be setting out a route by which the British people — not just the family reunion route which can run into the hundreds of thousands — but also a route by which everybody in this country can offer a home to people fleeing Ukraine.”

Mr Johnson said further details would be revealed “in the next few days”.

Just over a week ago Mr Smith urged the government to “rip up the usual bureaucracy and let’s just say they are welcome and we will make it as easy as possible to be here”.

Harrogate Conservative leader defends local response

Harrogate Borough Council leader Richard Cooper has accused the opposition Liberal Democrat leader Pat Marsh of appearing ignorant after she asked what steps the Tory-controlled council was taking to help the people of Ukraine.

Cllr Pat Marsh

Cllr Marsh asked in an email:

“What is being planned? Have we earmarked possible accommodation, have monies been allocated to help to feed, possibly clothe people?

“Please start some proactive actions now, the people of Harrogate district would support all efforts to help these desperate people fleeing a war zone, not of their making. We cannot just sit by and do nothing.”

Read more:

• Ripon MP Julian Smith urges UK to ‘rip up’ red tape and welcome Ukrainian refugees
• Harrogate council HQ ‘like the Mary Celeste’, says councillor

She also urged the council to lobby the UK government to grant more visas to Ukrainians.

Cllr Cooper’s response, seen by the Stray Ferret, says Cllr Marsh was “entirely wrong to allege that Harrogate Borough Council has sat by and done nothing”.

Cllr Richard Cooper

He added:

“For a start I have asked the council housing team to identify available properties so that we can react quickly to accommodation refugees as we did for Syrian and Afghan refugees.

“We have established contact with Jenny Travena, a former independent councillor, who is working with the Harrogate District of Sanctuary to coordinate our efforts when refugees arrive.

“We will take part in the government’s matching scheme to provide suitable accommodation with individuals and families fleeing the war when the final arrangements for it are announced.

“We have also determined that we have no contracts with Russian companies nor investments with them. We have cancelled performances at the Royal Hall from Russian linked companies and we have shown our solidarity with the people of Ukraine by hoisting their flag at the Civic Centre and the war memorial.

“I am concerned that your email gives an impression – granted that it appears to be from ignorance – that the borough council is taking no action whatsoever to prepare for Ukrainian refugees. This is entirely untrue. The action you have asked for is already being taken and I am rather surprised you didn’t know about it.”

A councillor has compared Harrogate Borough Council‘s headquarters at Knapping Mount to the abandoned ghost ship the Mary Celeste, due to the number of staff still working from home.

The multi-million-pound Civic Centre opened in 2017 and can accommodate up to 500 council workers. However, the council is still encouraging many staff to work from home despite lockdown restrictions being removed.

Nick Brown, the Conservative councillor for Bishop Monkton and Newby, told the Stray Ferret yesterday that he was unsatisfied with the response of Conservative council leader Richard Cooper to a question he asked at a council meeting last week.

Cllr Cooper said decisions about working practices should be made by senior officers rather than councillors.

Cllr Brown told the Stray Ferret:

“We councillors agreed to spend £13m on a new Civic Centre, opened in 2017, for officers to work in. Yet the leader now tells us that it is not members’ business to require council officers to work there.

“Prior to the covid pandemic, the Civic Centre was a busy place where I as a councillor could find the officers that I wished to speak to. Now it is like the Mary Celeste!”.

Cllr Brown believes ending the work from home policy would “benefit the local economy”.

He added:

“Our Conservative Prime Minister has given a clear message to end working from home in the public sector, in order to boost the economy.

“As a Conservative-led council, I believe we should get officers back at their desks and using the Civic Centre.”

Read more:

• Harrogate council still expecting staff to work from home
• Harrogate council staff still working from home – despite change of guidance

The public sector workers union Unison said it “broadly supports” the council’s decision to allow staff to work from home.

David Houlgate, branch secretary for the Harrogate district, told the Stray Ferret council staff proved during the pandemic they can work from home effectively.

He added:

“We believe the government’s Living with Covid strategy to scrap all remaining covid rules in England was reckless.

“So we broadly support this cautious approach taken by Harrogate Borough Council about returning to the Civic Centre at this time.

“Staff have demonstrated over a two-year period that they can deliver vital public services whether or not they are in the office or working from home.

“We’re confident that that can continue, though poor pay does present an ever increasing risk.”

‘Agile working’

The Stray Ferret has asked the council for the number of staff currently working from home who would normally be in the Civic Centre.

A council spokesperson said:

“Following the updated guidance in relation to the end of Plan B measures, staff are permitted to work from the office should they wish to or are required to do so.

“The number of staff using said office(s) differs day-by-day so it would be difficult to provide a comprehensive figure. Staff also come and go from the office depending on their job role; housing and planning officers for example.

“And while covid has seen a significant increase in staff working from home – and rightly so – many staff were already doing so. The civic centre was designed in such a way that staff could hybrid work or ‘hot desk’ if they so wished.

“Agile working is something adopted by many local authorities and companies long before covid and is one of the many benefits of working for Harrogate Borough Council.”

Latest figures reveal how dramatically the covid rate of infection has fallen in the Harrogate district over the past month.

Data published by North Yorkshire County Council shows the seven-day rate of infection was 344 per 100,000 people on March 1.

On February 1, when the Omicron variant was rampant, the rate was 1,300 per 100,000 people.

Although the rate continues to fall, there have still been covid-related deaths reported at Harrogate District Hospital.

NHS England figures show that one death was recorded on February 28 and another on February 25.

There have been 232 covid-related deaths at the hospital since the pandemic started almost two years ago.

Read more:

• Harrogate district volunteers wanted to fill sandbags for floods
• Community banking service to open in Knaresborough library

From Tuesday, the rules for people visiting patients in Harrogate and Ripon’s hospitals will be relaxed.

Since December 23, visitors have only been allowed for patients on end-of-life care, patients with a learning disability or severe cognitive impairment such as dementia. Visits to parents or carers of children and birthing partners are also permitted.

But from Tuesday, patients can have one visitor, by appointment, between 2pm-4pm for 30 minutes. Only two visitors will be allowed in each bay at any one time.

“It’s really important that the United Kingdom makes an immediate open, welcoming and warm hearted commitment of sanctuary to those who wish to leave Ukraine.

“Rip up the usual bureaucracy and let’s just say they are welcome and we will make it as easy as possible to be here.”

Prime minister Boris Johnson should resign over his ‘lack of leadership’ in handling the partygate scandal still hanging over Downing Street.

That’s the view of Ripon councillor Stuart Martin, chair of the Conservative-controlled North Yorkshire County Council, who will not be standing for re-election after 23 years in local politics.

He told the Stray Ferret:

“In my time as a firefighter and crew manager, I knew that I was duty bound to set an example and I don’t think the prime minister has done this in his handling of the partygate issue.

“He should step down because of the lack of leadership that he showed.”

Cllr Martin, pointed out:

“I must stress that I am not speaking on behalf of the council, but from a personal perspective.”

In March 2020, when the country was in its first covid-lockdown and he and his wife April were serving as the Mayor and Mayoress of the Harrogate District, she contracted coronavirus and went into two weeks of self-isolation.

The Mayoress’s condition deteriorated rapidly and she was rushed into Harrogate District Hospital where her life was saved in the intensive care unit.

At the time, Cllr Martin, said:

“I had to say goodbye to her in the ambulance and I didn’t know whether or not I would ever see her again.”

A second chance

Former nurse April, who is still suffering from long covid, said:

“Because of the skill of everybody at the hospital, we were given a second chance and that was in our thinking, when we looked to the future and Stuart decided it was time to step down.”

The couple, who will celebrate their 41st wedding anniversary in June, have two grown-up daughters and plan to spend more time with them and their six grandchildren, aged from five to 16.

The frightening experience of two years ago remains fresh in their minds and with daughter Gemma working as a paramedic, they have an everyday reminder of the vital role that front-life staff continue to play in tackling the pandemic and keeping people safe.

This was highlighted at Christmas, when the lack of rapid flow test kits put additional strain on the emergency services.

Cllr Martin, said:

“It was a chaotic and ridiculous situation, with paramedics urgently requiring testing kits to ensure that they were clear of the virus and able to care for others.”

Continuing work in the community

The Queen and Prince Philip, pictured in 2004 with the then Mayor and Mayoress of Ripon Councillor Stuart Martin and his wife April

As the government eases the restrictions on daily life, the Martins will continue to remain vigilant as they carry out their community work in Ripon and further afield.

Cllr Martin, one of the founders of TASC Madagascar which is helping disadvantaged people in the island country, will continue as a trustee for the charity.

He will also maintain his role as chair of trustees at Community House in Ripon, whose services are supporting hundreds of families and individuals trapped in food poverty.

Awarded an MBE IN 2010 for his charity work in Ripon and Madagascar, Cllr Martin will be playing active roles with the Ripon Community Poppy Project and as chair of the Friends of Hell Wath.

April, a former district commissioner for the Girl Guides, will continue to run a local Brownie group.

Looking back over the past 20 years, in which they have been Mayor and Mayoress of Ripon as well as the Harrogate district, a special memory came in 2004 when the Queen and Prince Philip visited the city to mark the 400th anniversary of the Royal Charter awarded by James I.

Cllr Martin, said:

“We were extremely privileged to meet them on that day and proud to have represented the people of Ripon.”

Read more:

• Ripon MP calls on PM to withdraw Starmer slur
• Concern over lack of covid test kits in Ripon
• £6,000 Antiques raid in Ripon

Strayside Sunday is our monthly political opinion column. It is written by Paul Baverstock, former Director of Communications for the Conservative Party. 

“It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to.”

The title of Lesley Gore’s original 1963 release sums up my current feelings about the Conservative Party to which I still pay a modest subscription (but for how much longer I can’t predict) – so grudging of Boris and his ‘antics’ have I lately become.  Let me stop myself there.  The way Boris Johnson comports himself in office cannot and should not be described by such a benign and affectionate term as ‘antics.’

This man, or, more accurately, this man-child, is genetically irresponsible, a consistent breaker of the laws designed to keep us safe in the face of the most dangerous international health crisis in a century.  Laws by the way, drafted by the government he leads and sold to us by the Great Man from his Downing Street lectern flanked by men and women of stature, learning and integrity.   On his return to work as Director of Communications for Boris Johnson (he worked for him in the same position when he was Mayor of London), former BBC journo Guto Harri was heard this week to say that Boris “wasn’t a total clown.”  I’d like to have had the second question and therefore had the opportunity to ask Mr Harri to identify those parts of the Prime Minister’s character that don’t qualify for such description.

In addition to his complete lack of the competencies required to lead a government, he is replete with human failings; he is a serial adulterer – ask his children if you can find them all – and a congenital liar.  Human failings are no bar to high office in our country, just ask Mr. Gladstone (and for that matter Lloyd George, the Old Goat).  But they ought to be if they are the primary and exclusive characteristic of the individual in question and remain unredeemed by qualities of leadership, administration, or application.

Boris Johnson is clearly unfit for elected office of any kind, let alone the highest office in the land.  If the man had an ounce of honour he would resign.  This he does not have and so the Conservative Party should do the right thing and get rid of him.  If they do not, I predict confidently that the Conservatives will go down to the mother of crushing defeats at the next General Election.  The electoral back is broken.

Watching Conservative MPs as they squirm and manoeuvre in the face of this car crash is deeply uncomfortable.  The sheer torture as they try to find a form of words to avoid having to say Boris broke the law, was a fool to attend a series of parties in Downing Street during lockdown (is it now 6 that he is alleged to have personally attended and been photographed at?), and that it beggars belief how much booze was going down the hatch in Number 10 on Wine Wednesdays, Thirsty Thursdays, and thank F its Fridays.  Some have broken cover. God bless David Davis.  The old bruiser sticking it to Johnson in PMQ’s with the poetic ‘by the grace of God, go” was a sight to behold.

The Johnson loyalists who have been sent out to argue the man’s case, chief among them Nadine Dorries, butter few parsnips – to paraphrase, no lions led by donkeys here, these are donkeys all the way.  And they certainly don’t understand the Red Wall Tories who are beside themselves with fury at all this.  Elected on a false promise, most RWT’s already understand they now have but one parliamentary term to make a mark before their constituents boot them out again, disappointed, disenchanted and determinedly unlevelled up.

And so, to our Harrogate’s own Andrew Jones MP.  This week our gentle soul was actually stirred into action and suggested that the PM has serious questions to answer over his attendance at the Downing Street parties/work gatherings.  He waits with anticipation for the results of the police enquiry.  Andrew breaking cover was so noteworthy that he got a mention in the New Statesman magazine as being proof, so usually supine and mouse-like is he, that the PM is in serious bother.  Who’d have thought it, Andrew Jones becoming a hero of the thoughtful left? Strange times indeed.

Those of you who read Strayside Sunday with any regularity will know that I attempt usually to provide thought and balance with a little humour thrown in.  I’m afraid this week I have nothing but polemic to offer, so angry am I about the behaviour of a Conservative Prime Minister and his parliamentary party in the face of such obvious scandal.  Now is the time for the party, including Andrew Jones, to stand up, do the right thing, and rid us of the near total clown at the top of the shop.  Send in your letter to the ‘22 Mr. Jones and you will do more for your reputation for principle and courage as a public servant than anything you can point to since your election in 2010.

If you and colleagues don’t, then Boris will continue to riff on Lesley Gore’s hit and sing, “It’s my party and I’ll lie if I want to.”

That’s my Strayside Sunday.

Read More:

• Andrew Jones MP calls for Sue Gray report to be published in full
• Ripon MP calls for PM to withdraw ‘Savile slur’ after Keir Starmer protest
• Strayside Sunday: 2022 will see a changing of the guard in Harrogate

Skipton and Ripon MP Julian Smith last night called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to withdraw “false Savile slurs” after Sir Keir Starmer was surrounded by protesters outside parliament.

It is the second time in a week the local MP has criticised his party leader on Twitter. He said:

“What happened to Keir Starmer tonight outside parliament is appalling. It is really important for our democracy & for his security that the false Savile slurs made against him are withdrawn in full.”

Mr Smith’s tweet has received 50,000 likes and attracted national media coverage.

Sir Keir, a former Director of Public Prosecutions, required a police escort last night after being surrounded by a mob shouting slurs about Savile.

It came a week after Boris Johnson criticised the Labour Party leader for failing to prosecute the serial sex offender.

Mr Smith tweeted after that incident that “false and baseless personal slurs are dangerous”.

There have been subsequent calls for Mr Johnson to apologise for his comments but Downing street has indicated he will not.

What happened to Keir Starmer tonight outside parliament is appalling. It is really important for our democracy & for his security that the false Savile slurs made against him are withdrawn in full.

— Julian Smith MP (@JulianSmithUK) February 7, 2022

Sir Keir had to be escorted to a police car whilst protesters criticised him for supporting covid vaccinations and supposedly shouted “Jimmy Saville”.

On his twitter, the Skipton and Ripon MP said:

Read more:

• North Yorkshire Combined Authority: What is it and how would it work?
• Harrogate councillor encourages people to have their say on mosque

Tobias Ellwood, the Conservative MP for Bournemouth East, agreed with Mr Smith. He posted on Twitter last night:

“PM – Apologise please. We claim to be the Mother of all Parliaments. Let’s stop this drift towards a Trumpian style of politics from becoming the norm. We are better than this.”

Mr Johnson is yet to withdraw the comments but did condemn last night’s protest saying:

“The behaviour directed at the Leader of the Opposition tonight is absolutely disgraceful. All forms of harassment of our elected representatives are completely unacceptable.”

Skipton and Ripon MP Julian Smith has urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to withdraw a “slur” he made against Sir Keir Starmer yesterday relating to Jimmy Savile.

Mr Johnson accused the Labour leader in the House of Commons of failing to prosecute Savile while he was Director of Public Prosecutions.

He claimed Sir Keir spent his time “prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile”.

The accusation has been described as “false and baseless” by Conservative MP Mr Smith. He said such “baseless personal slurs are dangerous”.

In a tweet this morning, Mr Smith said:

“The smear made against Keir Starmer relating to Jimmy Saville yesterday is wrong and cannot be defended.

“It should be withdrawn. False and baseless personal slurs are dangerous, corrode trust and can’t just be accepted as part of the cut and thrust of parliamentary debate.”

The smear made against Keir Starmer relating to Jimmy Saville yesterday is wrong & cannot be defended. It should be withdrawn. False and baseless personal slurs are dangerous, corrode trust & can't just be accepted as part of the cut & thrust of parliamentary debate.

— Julian Smith MP (@JulianSmithUK) February 1, 2022

Mr Smith has joined Nazir Afzal, who was assistant chief crown prosecutor in London during the Savile allegations, in condemning the remark.

Read more:

• MPs watch: Hedgehogs and Downing Street parties
• Could Harrogate be the home of the new North Yorkshire Council?
• Andrew Jones MP calls for Sue Gray report to be published in full

Mr Afzal said the accusation was not true and said Sir Keir “had nothing to do with the decisions taken”.

‘He drags everybody into the gutter’

The Labour leader was head of the Crown Prosecution Service when the the decision was made not to prosecute Savile in 2009. However, he was not the reviewing lawyer for the case who dealt with the allegations.

Sir Keir later commissioned an investigation into matter, which criticised both prosecutors and police for their handling of the allegations.

In response to the claim by the Prime Minister, the Labour leader told ITV Good Morning Britain:

“It’s a slur, it’s untrue, it’s desperate from the Prime Minister.

“I was really struck yesterday in the House at how many Conservative MPs were disgusted at that untruth from the despatch box.

“Of course on our side, people were disgusted. But his own MPs couldn’t believe their Prime Minister had stooped that low.

“He’s degraded the whole office. And this is how he operates. He drags everybody into the gutter with him.

“Everybody he touches, everybody that comes into contact with him is contaminated by this Prime Minister.”