TV presenter Beverley Turner refused to clap for Captain Tom in protest over government ‘fear’

TV presenter Beverley Turner says she refused to clap for Captain Tom because she didn’t want to ‘maintain the fear that imminent death is all around’

  • Ms Turner, 47, said she believed it was the Government’s way of hiding failings
  • She highlighted an NHS worker who said he’d prefer proper funding than clap
  • TV presenter Ms Turner, ex-wife of rower James Cracknell, urged questioning
  • She said it was ‘vital to question and interrogate the prevailing narrative’ 

TV presenter Beverley Turner has revealed she refused to clap in memory of Captain Sir Tom Moore because she felt the act maintained ‘the fear that imminent death is all around.

The journalist and broadcaster, 47, also appeared to object to the applause on the basis it had been used by the authorities to push the idea everyone was ‘in this together’.

Ms Turner – who has appeared on some of the UK’s biggest daytime shows – signalled she felt the government was using the public to distract from NHS funding issues.

She sparked a mixture of support and condemnation, with Piers Morgan blocking her on Twitter and calling her thoughts ‘pathetic’.

Ms Turner had posted online at 5.50pm, ten minutes before the clap’s allotted time, and said: ‘Sir Tom Moore and his family did a brilliant job of raising £ for the NHS. It’s great that he lived to 100! It’s awesome that he got one last fab holiday. 

‘But I’m not clapping in the St to maintain the fear that imminent death is all around & we’re all in this together. We’re not.’

TV presenter Beverley Turner has revealed she refused to clap in memory of Captain Tom

Captain Sir Tom Moore died on Tuesday surrounded by his family in Bedford Hospital

Captain Sir Tom Moore died on Tuesday surrounded by his family in Bedford Hospital

Ms Turner said she did not clap because it 'maintained fear that imminent death is all around'

Ms Turner said she did not clap because it ‘maintained fear that imminent death is all around’

Her retweeting of a NHS worker shed more light on her views of the 6pm call to clap

Her retweeting of a NHS worker shed more light on her views of the 6pm call to clap

After Piers – who hosts Good Morning Britain, a programme she has appeared on – hit out at her, she responded back to him refusing to back down.

Ms Turner, who is divorced from Olympic rower James Cracknell, added to a social media user: ‘Pro- lockdown, pro-fear, pro-government advocates do not have the moral high ground right now.

‘It has never been more vital to question and interrogate the prevailing narrative! That’s all. Gotta go make the kids tea.’

She later said: ‘Must have touched a nerve as been blocked by Piers Morgan. I don’t think he liked the fact that it seems – by many of your reactions- that I wasn’t completely wrong… And he does not like to be wrong. Maybe he’s manipulating you all too?, Just a thought….’

She also retweeted a Northumberland-based NHS worker father who had said: ‘Clap for Tom by all means, but as an NHS ‘frontline’ worker for 30 yrs I’d much rather proper support from this inept government who are now using us to make themselves feel better.’

Piers, who interviewed Sir Tom on his Life Stories programme, was clearly unimpressed with the tweet and wrote in response: ‘This is so pathetic’.  

Boris Johnson and his fiancee Carrie Symonds take part in the doorstep clap outside No 10

Boris Johnson and his fiancee Carrie Symonds take part in the doorstep clap outside No 10

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in the memorial clap for NHS fundraiser Captain Tom

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in the memorial clap for NHS fundraiser Captain Tom

Health Secretary Matt Hancock posted this photo to pay tribute to Captain Sir Tom Moore

Health Secretary Matt Hancock posted this photo to pay tribute to Captain Sir Tom Moore

Chief executive of Every Doctor UK Dr Julia Grace Patterson said she too had not taken part

Chief executive of Every Doctor UK Dr Julia Grace Patterson said she too had not taken part

She wrote back to Piers and said: ‘No Piers. He was awesome. Heroic behaviour at his impressive age and I completely defend his right to go on holiday (and yours…).’Ms Turner has questioned the merits and risks of lockdown, compared to restrictions and schools being closed.

Separately the chief executive of Every Doctor UK Dr Julia Grace Patterson said she too had not taken part in the applause.

She wrote ‘Captain Tom Moore was a brave and exceptional man But I will not be instructed by Boris Johnson to applaud an effort which raised funds to support a public service Boris, you should be funding the NHS properly.

‘There shouldn’t be charities requiring fundraising #ClapForTom #NHS.’

Hundreds of thousands of Britons across the nation had taken to their doorsteps at 6pm to pay tribute to Captain Tom after he died of coronavirus on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson led the national round of applause at 6pm from Downing Street, with the veteran’s family also taking part.

Images showed his emotional daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore leaning on her son Benjie as they marked the applause alongside her daughter Georgia and husband Colin Ingram outside Captain Tom’s home in Marston Moretaine near Milton Keynes.

They were joined by hundreds of thousands thousands of well-wishers who showed their support for the 100-year-old by standing on doorsteps and leaning out of windows to clap.

Captain Tom became a national treasure during the first coronavirus lockdown after he raised £33 million for the NHS by doing laps of his garden. His death was met with an out-pouring of grief with the Queen leading tributes.

MPs held a minute’s silence before Prime Minister’s Questions at midday, after which Mr Johnson asked Britons to take part in a clap straight after his 5pm Covid press conference.

He also threw his backing behind a statue to commemorate the war veteran for his efforts during the pandemic.