Sandwiched between speeches by Jacob-Rees Mogg and Lee Anderson, a less familiar figure took to the stage at Tuesday’s launch of the Popular Conservatives group. Looking slightly nervous, she glanced at her notes and began: “Margaret Thatcher … ”
Anyone wondering about Mhairi Fraser’s political views even after those opening words were soon left in no doubt, as the Conservative candidate for the safe Surrey constituency of Epsom and Ewell launched into a full-throated attack on the “nanny state”.
The former parliamentary staffer turned City lawyer lambasted Rishi Sunak’s policy to ban smoking, saying – in a point that public health experts may quibble with – that there was no link between controls on tobacco and smoking rates.
Fraser went on to call Covid lockdowns “the nanny in her most monstrous form”, arguing that if people choose to have “a cigarette after a long day at work” then officials should just keep out and let them do it. » | Peter Walker, Deputy political editor | Saturday, February 10, 2024
Truss’s PopCon group splinters on launch but attacks Sunak’s policies: Just two of four MPs billed to speak present as launch event amounts to evisceration of PM’s government »
