Hucknall MP faces backlash after tweeting support for Prime Minister following Downing Street party fine

Hucknall MP Mark Spencer has shown his support for Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the wake of 'partygate'.

Yesterday, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that Mr Johnson along with Chancellor Rishi Sunak had been issued fines for breaking the law by attending a birthday party in Downing Street in June 2020 at the height of lockdown. 

The fine means that Mr Johnson is the first serving British Prime Minister in history to be sanctioned for breaking the law.

This has led to calls for him to resign from his position.

However, last night (Tuesday 12 April), Mr Spencer, the constituency MP for Sherwood which includes the town of Hucknall, tweeted his support for the Prime Minister.

He posted the following on the social networking site: "The PM has apologised and taken responsibility for what happened in Downing Street. He and the Chancellor are delivering a growing economy during global challenges and delivering on the international security crisis we face. They have my whole support".

This tweet was met by a lot of anger from other social media users and has amassed almost 400 replies.

It has also evoked a furious response from a Hucknall Councillor.

Jim Blagden, a member of the Ashfield Independents, who represents Hucknall Central on Ashfield District Council described it as an "…incredibly insensitive tweet". 

He was particularly incensed as at a similar time to the parties taking place in number 10, his family suffered a devastating loss as his grandson Aeron passed away at the age of 27 after battling cancer.

Councillor Blagden said: "Right at the start of the first lockdown, Aeron was fighting his own battle not with COVID-19 but with cancer – one that he sadly lost. As a family we accepted Government rules that severely restricted attendance at Aeron's funeral. It was so upsetting to tell family members they couldn't attend a celebration of Aeron's life. Telling them to stay away was an unbelievably difficult thing to do. Members of my family found their own way of marking Aeron's death.

"We held no wake – a chance to grieve together. No coffee, no cake – no time to reflect and support each other. There was no chance to swap stories of how Aeron had touched our lives. To find out a few years later, that the very person who set the rules that impacted us so much was partying is devastating. It's crass. It's unforgiveable. It's appalling. To see our MP Mark Spencer just gloss over our pain is as crass as it's insulting."

"Mark Spencer has shown how out of touch he is. It's an insult to everybody who's lives were so badly impacted by COVID. I know he has a highly paid job to protect as the Leader of the House of Commons and has been unequivocal in his unwavering support for an under fire Prime Minister but this beggars belief. I am calling for Mr Spencer to delete his tweet and ask Boris Johnson to consider his position. Mark has insulted us all, and families up and down Hucknall, Nottinghamshire and across the country are quite rightly appalled."

This is not the first time that Mr Spencer, who is currently Leader of the House of Commons, and has been a member of Boris Johnson's Cabinet since he first became Prime Minister in July 2019, has expressed his support for the Government.

In May 2020, he tweeted his support for the Prime Minister's then advisor Dominic Cummings after he was forced to apologise for travelling from London to Durham during the first lockdown.

He also pledged his support to Boris Johnson in January this year saying he was "100% behind him" when allegations of lockdown breaches first began to emerge.