Care Homes could be ‘biggest scandal of crisis’ says Nigel Farage
Boris Johnson and Sir Keir Starmer came to blows at Prime Minister's Questions this week after Boris Johnson claimed the Labour leader's quoting of the Government's coronavirus advice for care homes was "not true". The row continued outside the Commons as Sir Keir wrote to Mr Johnson, demanding his return to the House to retract his statement, prompting the British leader to reject the summons in his own letter. LBC host Nigel Farage broke down the spat to his listeners, revealing how it could lead to the unveiling of the "biggest scandal of this crisis".
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Mr Farage said: "I have to say, I think Boris Johnson is in a bit of trouble over this.
"Why? Well, I've said before in the last couple of weeks that Keir Starmer is very forensic in his style, and indeed he is.
"I said in previous exchanges he did a points win but no knockouts. Today he came a bit closer.
"He has riled the Prime Minister into giving an answer, not just in the House of Commons, but also in his letter to Keir Starmer, that is bang-to-rights factually inaccurate."
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He continued: "Now you might argue, does this really matter or doesn't it?
"But it might have been easier for Boris to say, 'yes actually, that was the advice up until the March 12, and then it changed when we realised there was a bigger risk with this spreading within our care homes'.
"They haven't done that, and what that means is that Keir Starmer will now be like a dog with a bone.
"The debate will move on and I'll tell you where it'll go. It'll go to the fact that people who were diagnosed positive with COVID-19 were sent from hospitals to care homes."
PMQs: Johnson tells Starmer care home comments are ‘not true’
The LBC host added: "Now some of them, maybe, had been at hospital a couple of weeks and would, by that time, not have been contagious.
"But I certainly know myself of examples of people being sent from hospital to care homes who were contagious with the care homes not even being told until the patient had already arrived.
"I think this is perhaps going to lead to the biggest scandal of this crisis."
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Sir Keir had been grilling the Prime Minister over Government advice from March, which said it was “very unlikely” that people in care homes would become infected.
In his post-Commons letter, he wrote: "At this time of national crisis, it is more important than ever that Government ministers are accurate in the information they give.
"Given this, I expect you to come to the House of Commons at the earliest opportunity to correct the record and to recognise that this was official Government guidance regarding care homes."
In the Commons, Mr Johnson hit back: “We brought the lockdown in care homes ahead of the general lockdown, and what we’ve seen is a concerted action plan to tackle what has unquestionably been an appalling epidemic in care homes."
In his own letter to Sir Keir, the PM accused his rival of quoting “selectively and misleadingly”.