Labour’s Rosena Allin-Khan sparks fury with ‘fake tweet’ featuring Spanish nurse in Hancock attack

Labour shadow minister Rosena Allin-Khan sparks fury with ‘fake tweet’ featuring a picture of a nurse in SPAIN as she attacks Matt Hancock over PPE ‘cronyism’ contracts while NHS medics had to wear bin bags during shortages

A Labour frontbencher sparked fury today when she mounted an attack on the Government about PPE shortages for NHS staff using a picture of a Spanish hospital.

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan posted a tweet taking aim at Matt Hancock over allegations of ‘cronyism’ in contracts to manufacture gloves, masks and other material for front-line staff.

The Health Secretary is under fire after a probe was launched into a firm run by the former landlord of his local pub, who was given a £30million contract to make test vials.

Dr Allin-Khan wrote: ‘If you’ve got the Health Secretary on WhatsApp, you get a PPE contract. If you’re a nurse working on the frontline, you get a bin bag.’

But the picture she used to accompany the attack was from a Spanish hospital and she later deleted it.

This morning she replaced it with another tweet, showing NHS nurses in bin bags, admitting the previous tweet ‘had the wrong picture’.

Dr Allin-Khan attacked Matt Hancock over PPE in a tweet – featuring a picture of a Spanish nurse

This morning she replaced it with another tweet, showing NHS nurses in bin bags, admitting the previous tweet 'had the wrong picture'.

This morning she replaced it with another tweet, showing NHS nurses in bin bags, admitting the previous tweet ‘had the wrong picture’.

The shadow mental health minister and MP for Tooting has been working for the NHS during the pandemic

The shadow mental health minister and MP for Tooting has been working for the NHS during the pandemic

It is the latest Twitter gaffe by the Tooting MP. In the new year she issued a grovelling apology after falsely suggesting vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi jumped the queue for jabs. 

The apology came in the early hours of the morning after she tweeted at 11.31pm saying she had heard ‘rumours’ that Mr Zahawi and his family had been vaccinated in Wandsworth.

‘Nadhim, can you please tell us if it is true?’ she wrote. ‘ I really hope it is not unless you meet the necessary criteria.’

However, by 1.08am the Labour MP, an A&E doctor, completely retracted the claims.

‘I have deleted my earlier tweets which were inappropriate and wrong. I regret sharing unsubstantiated claims about the Minister and I apologise to him and his family,’ she wrote.

Labour sources indicated that Dr Allin-Khan had been told to delete the message and apologise. 

Mr Zahawi, who is overseeing the vaccine rollout, has previously revealed that he is taking part in the trials of the Novovax version – and was pictured having a jab in November.

 

It is the latest Twitter gaffe by the Tooting MP. In the new year she issued a grovelling apology after falsely suggesting vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi jumped the queue for jabs

It is the latest Twitter gaffe by the Tooting MP. In the new year she issued a grovelling apology after falsely suggesting vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi jumped the queue for jabs