Tory MP Steve Baker has been mocked after having an arguably hyperbolic reaction to face masks.
Speaking about the reintroduction of face coverings on public transport and shops to deal with the Omicron variant, the former Brexit secretary said stopping people’s choice to wear them or not was “authoritarian” and warned our society was “heading towards hell”.
He said: “It’s not really about face coverings... it’s about how we react and the kind of nation and civilization we are creating in the context of this new disease.
🗽"This is about how we react, and the kind of nation and civilisation we are creating in the context of this disease"
— Steve Baker MP FRSA (@SteveBakerHW) November 30, 2021
👇"This is a fundamental choice between heading towards heaven and heading towards hell" pic.twitter.com/n5mFqJEk5t
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“What is the relationship between the state and the individual? Are we to be empty vessels or mere automata—things to be managed, as if a problem?”
He went on: “Or are we free spirits with, for want of a better term, a soul? We are free spirits with a soul—people who deserve the dignity of choice and the meaning in our lives that comes from taking responsibility.
“This is a fundamental choice between heading towards heaven and heading towards hell. If we continue to react to these fears and uncertainties by taking the authoritarian course, without impact assessments—because the regulations are only temporary, you know—we are embarked on that downward course.”
His intervention came as part of a debate before MPs voted on whether to reintroduce masks and stricter travel requirements to curb the spread of the new coronavirus variant. While Baker and 21 other Tory MPs voted against the measures, they ultimately passed by 434 to 23.
Not for the want of Baker trying. He continued: “The most extraordinary set of choices are being taken because of an overwhelming, narrow focus on the one issue of coronavirus. It falls on ministers to provide the lead, the breadth of thinking, the vision and the values to set out what broad kind of society we are trying to create. Where are we going as a society and civilisation? What will be our redemption and salvation? How will we provide that hope for our future?”
Elsewhere in the speech he noted that he had worn masks on trains even when they haven’t been mandatory, but said that “taking away the public’s right to choose what they do based on flimsy and uncertain evidence” did not sit well with him.
“We have to learn to live with it. If we panic every time there’s a new variant... we are going to make entire sections of our society uninvestable,” he said.
But as he went on and on, his reaction was deemed rather dramatic and therefore he got a pretty thorough roasting on Twitter.
I have an existential crisis like this when Netfilx asks me "are you still watching?" after too much binge watching - for Steve, it's masks https://t.co/Q968358wNk
— Nadine Batchelor-Hunt (@nadinebh_) November 30, 2021
Redemption, salvation, hope - three concepts synonymous with the Tory party that will be abandoned if Steve has to wear a mask in High Wycombe Asda. https://t.co/DYqD70h3Ih
— THE SECRET TORY (@secrettory12) November 30, 2021
Steve Baker MP is on another planet. The 'path to hell' is watching a relative die in ICU of Covid, not having to wear a paper mask. #Covid19UK
— Simon Pickering (@healdsgreen) November 30, 2021
Don’t want to get all popey, but the difference between heaven and hell is not whether you’re required to wear a mask in Waitrose https://t.co/emUho1nVtL
— James Felton (@JimMFelton) November 30, 2021
If Steve Baker wants to know what hell looks like he should do a shift in an acute ICU ward during a Covid surge. https://t.co/3qGto7J6Lq
— James Doleman (@jamesdoleman) November 30, 2021
"I stare into the night and it is darkness; as if the moon & stars recoil in horror from the abyssal nightmare of our suffering, drawing closed a shutter of blackest clouds and trapping us in an ebon void where no dreams can glimmer."
— Dmitry Grozoubinski (@DmitryOpines) November 30, 2021
- Steve Baker MP when Netflix is a bit slow https://t.co/H8S8kU7jAu
Love Steve Baker's note perfect spoof of one of those crazy, earnest, freemen of the land Facebook memes... oh wait he's being serious? https://t.co/bX1sHCbo99
— Otto English (@Otto_English) November 30, 2021
According to this highly religious man, concern for others equates with the path to Hell.
— Dr Mike Galsworthy (@mikegalsworthy) November 30, 2021
…and irresponsibility equates with the blissful liberations of Heaven, obviously. https://t.co/CesAsf5vMv
Seems like people see Baker’s politics as a bit half-baked.
