Constituents of local Tory David Morris have reacted with fury to his response in correspondence to Mark Swindlehurst, Morecambe FC’s voluntary match day announcer, after the Morecambe and Lunesdale MP suggested the country should “move on” from “Partygate” during a BBC North West interview.
Mr Swindlehurst lost his mother-in-law Meryl Gibson to cancer in May 2020 and his sister Karen Whitfield to Covid in January 2021, and due to COVID restrictions, was unable to be with them when they died, or give them the funeral two very popular women deserved due to pandemic restrictions.
After Mr Morris declared in a BBC interview that “people were sick of partygate”, and “It’s time for people to move on”, Mr Swindlehurst wrote to Mr Morris, recounting his loss, and challenged the MP on his vote of confidence for Boris Johnson, and his attitude in regards to the law breaking that went on in Downing Street.
“You say people are sick of Partygate and want to get on, I find it hard to believe,” he challenged. “You are clearly speaking to the wrong people.
“I and hundreds of people I know feel upset and betrayed by what happened in Downing Street and by dismissing it as a bit of ‘cake eating’ when the Sue Gray Report clearly states otherwise is an insult to me, my family and the hundreds of your constituents who knew and loved both of these ladies. You should be ashamed.”
While sympathising with Mr Swindlehurst’s loss in his reply, Mr Morris reiterated his support for the Prime Minister, declared that as far he was concerned the “matter closed” following the vote of confidence earlier this week, “and will not be commenting any further”.
Bizarrely, he also appeared to suggest that Boris Johnson’s support for the Eden Project was “critical” to it coming to Morecambe in his reply.
Linking Johnson’s support for the Project to his continued tenure as PM has led many to wonder why Mr Morris should choose to mention this in a letter to a grieving constituent – and has not been well received.
Both the letter to Mr Morris, and his reply, are featured here, in full, shared with the permission of Mr Swindlehurst in his public Facebook posts.
Mr Swindlehurst commented, “the last two paragraphs are clearly cut and paste from a standard response, but when read in context of my letter the last paragraph feels as though it is either meant to be some kind of consolation or something more sinister.
“Either way, not appropriate to bring up.”
The letters in full
Dear Mr Morris
I am a member of your constituency and I wanted to give you some feedback on comments that you have been reported to have made in the local press this week, and make a couple of requests.
You are reported as saying “people were sick of partygate.” , and “It’s time for people to move on”. Also “The prime minister had made an apology over eating cake two years ago. He still has my support, fully.”
Please indulge me as I attempt to give you some context for my reason to write to you. Around the time Mr Johnson was “eating cake”, we were holding a funeral attended by 15 people for my Mother in law Meryl Gibson, who had sadly died of cancer during May 2020. Mrs Gibson had spent over 50 years working for the NHS and then spent her retirement volunteering at West End Impact. She was not allowed to say goodbye to family members or to close friends before passing. Typical of her, while bitterly disappointed that she was unable to do this, she saw the bigger picture and understood that the rules were set by the Government for the good of everyone and that it was important that we all stuck by them, with no exceptions. As mentioned, the funeral that took place in June 2020, in normal times, would have been standing room only for an amazing lady but was restricted to 15 only, with no wake or celebration of life permitted. We knew exactly what the rules were.
My Sister Karen Whitfield died from Covid in January 2021. She contracted it in December 2020 around the time Mr Johnson and his staff in Downing Street were partying and joking about partying in mock press conferences.
Karen was 49 and had spent her career as a care giver to elderly people, making their twighlight years as full and comfortable as possible. She was a Manager of a local care home throughout the whole of 2020 and protected her residents by following every rule and every piece of guidance issued by the Government. She sacrificed her own personal time and never compromised.
In December 2020 we were not allowed to see each other and we exchanged presents at a distance on her doorstep two days before Christmas. We could not hug or kiss. I did not know at this time that it would be the last time I saw her. She called me on Christmas day in tears and thanked me for the present (a picture of her and her best friend Emma who had recently passed away). It hurt that I could not see her as I was with my wife’s family that day, and she was with her family.
On New Year’s Eve she called to tell us that she had tested positive for Covid and that she felt poorly and was going to bed early. It was the last time I spoke to her. She deteriorated over the next few days and was rushed into hospital on January 5th. She fought bravely to come back to her family and the NHS ICU team did everything they could for her. The decision to turn off her life support was taken on January 31st. For her funeral we were allowed 30, but again it would have been standing room only for a lady that helped others so much. Once again, no celebration of her life was allowed due to the rules that we were fully aware of.
My reason for writing to you is two-fold.
First of all when you say people are sick of Partygate and want to get on, I find it hard to believe. You are clearly speaking to the wrong people. I and hundreds of people I know feel upset and betrayed by what happened in Downing Street and by dismissing it as a bit of ‘cake eating’ when the Sue Gray Report clearly states otherwise is an insult to me, my family and the hundreds of your constituents who knew and loved both of these ladies. You should be ashamed. 148 of your Conservative MP colleagues have voted with their conscience and are clearly not ‘sick of Partygate’, but as disgusted and embarrassed as most of the British Public.
Secondly, The fact that the Prime Minister and his team (who set the rules that we followed), clearly hold the public in contempt and I would like you to pass this letter on to Mr Johnson for his and your thoughts on the content and please explain to us how we can ‘move on’ when we are clearly not being respected or considered when decisions about rule breaking for selfish reasons are being made.
Why could Mr Johnson and his staff have a birthday party, when Mrs Gibson could not have the send off she deserved after a lifetime of dedication to the NHS and caring for others?
Why could my Sister Karen not see any of her family during her last Christmas, while Downing Street partied?
How can you possibly support the Prime Minister? How do you suggest my family ‘moves on’?
I await your reply with interest.
Yours sincerely
Mark Swindlehurst
David Morris reply in full
Dear Mr Swindlehurst,
Thank you for your email and for sharing your views on this issue.
I am sorry to hear the sad loss of two of your family members during the COVID pandemic. We all scarified a lot to adhere to the rules and to keep our friends, family and community safe. I have forwarded your email to the Prime Minister so he is fully aware of your anger on this issue.
The Prime Minister has apologised, and the Prime Minister has now won a vote of confidence in the Conservative Parliamentary Party, and therefore I consider this matter closed and will not be commenting any further.
Boris Johnson is a strong supporter of the Eden Project coming to Morecambe and we are now at a critical stage where a funding application for the necessary Government funding is being made to the Levelling Up fund which will see the project a reality. Boris Johnson’s support has been critical in securing an avenue for this application, and I look forward to welcoming him in Morecambe when this once in a generation opportunity is announced, which will be a game changer for the future prosperity for our community.
Yours sincerely
David Morris MP
Morecambe and Lunesdale
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA