Jon Ashworth is one of the great survivors of the Labour front bench, having held the shadow health brief for some four and a half years under successive leaders. But given this morning’s media round, how much longer will he be remaining in post?
Responding to the government’s announcement yesterday of the end of social distancing restrictions, Ashworth gave a tetchy interview on Radio 4’s Today programme in which he levelled the charge of ‘recklessness’ at the government. He told presenter Mishal Husain ‘I don’t think any avoidable deaths are acceptable, that’s why I would always want to put in place mitigating precautions to try to save people’s lives.’
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As expected, this attitude of seemingly infinite restriction did not go down well on social media, with pundits asking how smoking, alcohol, driving and risky outdoor activities could be squared with a refusal to countenance ‘avoidable deaths.’ Moreover,
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