EXCL Sarah Wollaston slams 'crass' Tory whips for ordering her from Commons office while caring for ill relative
2 min read
Sarah Wollaston has slammed "crass" Tory whips for ordering her out of her Commons office while she is caring for an ill relative.
The Totnes MP, who resigned from the Conservatives in February, said she had been the victim of a "petty and vindictive" campaign after being given two weeks to clear her belongings.
The allocation of Westminster offices is the responsibility of party whips, with senior or loyal MPs rewarded with the best rooms.
But Ms Wollaston said she had been allowed to keep the larger space by Theresa May out of "respect" for her work as chair of both the Commons Liason Committee and Health and Social Care Committee.
In an outspoken attack on her former colleagues, she told PoliticsHome that she had been sent the "crass and insensitive" demand by Tory whip Mike Freer despite telling him she would be absent from London while she cared for a gravely-ill family member.
Branding him a "petty jobsworth", the prominent pro-Remain MP also demanded Mr Freer provide an explanation for how he was able to enter her locked Commons office over the weekend without her permission.
She tweeted: “New Government whips keeping it classy, writing to demand I clear out my office within a fortnight depsite being informed of my personal circumstances with a relative who is gravely unwell, refusing to answer how or why they let themselves in without my permission.
"All part of a vindictive campaign to undermine my parliamentary role as a select committee chair, making it more difficult to hold meetings with Health Committee & Liason Committee teams & those who meet with me from a wide range of NHS and charity bodies."
She added: "Extraordinary really, hard to imagine other people with the crass insensitivity to write the email I've just received."
The former GP, who has chaired the Commons Health Committee since 2014, claimed the move had come as part of a wider plot by new Prime Minister Boris Johnson to "undermine" the ability of MPs to provide scrutiny of the Government’s work.
"It goes to the heart of what is rotten about Westminster patronage," she said. "I've written about this before but [Boris] Johnson and his team are also petty and vindictive too."
Mr Freer has been contacted for comment.
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