Labour’s Rosena Allin-Khan has been criticised for her “tone” for the third time in two years, by another health secretary.
Speaking in the Commons yesterday, health secretary Sajid Javid said she had “misjudged the tone of this house” after she asked the minister whether he would extend the use of masks to hospitality settings, queried how the government would enforce it, and criticised Boris Johnson and Conservative backbenchers for not always being the first among us to reach for their face coverings.
We support the re-introduction of mask wearing, but for it to work effectively, the Prime Minister needs to follow suit. Unless this leadership is shown from the very top - Covid will continue to spread. pic.twitter.com/LtDoFcyuRy
— Dr Rosena Allin-Khan 💙 (@DrRosena) November 29, 2021
It is of course not the first time the shadow minister for mental health, who is also a doctor, has been slapped on the wrist about “tone”.
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In May 2020, the then health secretary Matt Hancock (anyone know what happened to him? ) said “she might do well to take a leaf out of the shadow secretary of state’s book in terms of tone” after she questioned him on whether “a lack of testing” had “cost lives” during the pandemic.
I will respectfully challenge the Government - I want our country to succeed.
— Dr Rosena Allin-Khan 💙 (@DrRosena) May 5, 2020
However, I will not 'watch my tone' when dozens of NHS and care staff are dying unnecessarily.
A clip of my Q to the Health Sec today. pic.twitter.com/5jjQRXyIm3
Meanwhile, in July this year, Allin-Khan challenged Helen Whately, the then social care secretary, after stating that NHS staff had been sent “like lambs to the slaughter without appropriate PPE to work.”
Whately replied:“I just would say it is clearly very important the things we say in this chamber and they have ripples beyond this chamber.
“And so the tone of what we say, I for one certainly consider is extremely important.”
Reacting to the latest “tone” incident, people couldn’t believe another health secretary had questioned Allin-Khan’s manner of speaking.
Just the saw the clip of Dr Rosena Allin-Khan MP ask in Parliament, "When will Conservative backbenchers start wearing their masks?"
— Farrukh #FBPE (@implausibleblog) November 29, 2021
To which our (not a doctor) Health Secretary Sajid Javid replied, "The honourable lady has misjudged the tone of the house."
I'm speechless 😐
This is the second Health Secretary who has tone-policed Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, an NHS doctor, in the House of Commons. https://t.co/D1QqyueAOo
— Dr Julia Grace Patterson💙 (@JujuliaGrace) November 30, 2021
Dr Rosena Allin-Khan is a medical doctor as well as a very good MP; I’d say her tone is fully justified. https://t.co/TF6zFlkXR9
— Jane Casey (@JaneCaseyAuthor) November 30, 2021
Secretary of State for Health & Social Care, Sajid Javid, has misjudged the tone of the country in talking down to Dr Rosena Allin-Khan who works as a Dr during this pandemic while he has channeled Covid pandemic emergency public funding to Tory chums' companies. https://t.co/YIwbWgQqiD
— Dave Kruku (@DKruku) November 29, 2021
And Allin-Khan herself called it “tone-policing” and compared it to the Hancock incident.
Different man, same tone-policing. pic.twitter.com/dLbpNL2Ahb
— Dr Rosena Allin-Khan 💙 (@DrRosena) November 29, 2021
Indy100 has contacted Javid and Allin-Khan to comment further on this story. We will watch the tone of their replies carefully.
