Rylan Clark clashes with Edwina Currie over Boris Johnson: ‘Didn’t have this on my bingo card’
Rylan and Edwina Currie spat on Twitter over ‘partygate’ (David M. Benett and Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)
Rylan Clark and former MP Edwina Currie rowed on Twitter over calls for Boris Johnson to resign.
Rylan was among the many to weigh in on the ongoing government “partygate”, which has seen Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak fined for attending a Downing Street party in June 2020, during lockdown.
Both Johnson and Sunak have rejected calls to resign after accepting the fines. Johnson has become the UK’s first sitting prime minister to be sanctioned for breaking the law.
Rylan was among those to call for the prime minister’s resignation, tweeting: “He’s officially broke the law. That’s it ain’t it?”
Edwina Currie, who served as a Tory junior health minister under Margaret Thatcher, replied with: “No, it isn’t.”
Currie added that while the parties “shouldn’t have happened”, “it’s done now”.
“In case you hadn’t noticed, this all happened two years ago. Putin is laughing at us. Get real,” she added in a tweet.
No, it isn’t.
Shouldn’t have happened, but it’s done now.
In case you hadn’t noticed, this all happened two years ago.
Putin is laughing at us.
Get real. https://t.co/pDZZ6xU1a2
— Edwina Currie (@Edwina_Currie) April 13, 2022
Rylan responded, joking that he did not have “Edwina Currie on my bingo card for this morning”.
“Edwina, there’s a war, we’re living with Covid, there’s a lot going on publicly and personally. I’m aware when it was,” he added.
“Believe me, I don’t need to ‘get real’ it’s a statement. Not an opinion.”
He added in a separate tweet: “Regardless of your upbringing, education, wealth or status, EVERYONE is entitled to talk about politics as UK citizens.”
I did not have @Edwina_Currie on my bingo card for this morning. Edwina, there’s a war, we’re living with Covid, there’s a lot going on publicly and personally. I’m aware when it was. Believe me I don’t need to “get real” it’s a statement. Not an opinion. You stay well, as will I https://t.co/giMDSVi0Z6— R Y L A N (@Rylan) April 13, 2022
Boris Johnson has offered his “full apology” for attending a gathering at Number 10 on his birthday during lockdown, and has paid a fixed penalty notice.
He said: “Let me say immediately that I paid the fine and I once again offer a full apology. In a spirit of openness and humility I want to be clear about what happened on that date.”
He claimed that the party was a “brief gathering in the Cabinet room shortly after 2pm lasting for less than ten minutes, during which the people I worked with kindly passed on their goodwishes”.
Johnson claims he did not lie when he previously denied any wrongdoing, as “at that time it did not occur to me that this might have been a breach of the rules”.
It’s believed that Johnson attended other gatherings which may result in further fines.
Johnson’s wife Carrie also received one of the 50 fines handed out so far over the “partygate” scandal.
At the height of the pandemic, Edwina Currie went on ITV to discuss the government’s COVID guidelines, which were at the time being criticised as confusing and inconsistent.
It wasn’t the first time she’d shared her unwanted views on a pandemic. In 1986, as junior health minister, Currie claimed that “good Christian people who wouldn’t dream of misbehaving will not catch AIDS”.
She eventually stepped down from the role after claiming that eggs in Britain were infected with salmonella, sending sales crashing.
