Esther McVey doubles down on ‘repugnant’ Holocaust smoking ban comparison

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Rightwing Tory MP Esther McVey has doubled down on a controversial Tweet which appeared to compare Labour’s proposed smoking ban to the Holocaust.

A leading Jewish community group has led the criticisms of the former common sense minister’s social media post describing it as “repugnant”.

In it, the former TV presenter wrote out the words to German theologian Martin Niemoller’s famed 1946 poem, First They Came, which warns how those who stood passively by in the face of intensifying Nazi persecution became complicit in the Holocaust.

Ms Mcvey then added: “Pertinent words re Starmer’s smoking ban.”

But after a torrent of criticism and calls for her to delete the post on X (formerly Twitter), Ms McVey has refused and used an interview on LBC to double down on her controversial views.

Ms McVey denied comparing the smoking ban to the Holocaust.

She told presenter Nick Ferrari: “Yes I quoted a poem about the Holocaust. Why? Because it conveys a very important wider parable about the importance of standing up for other people’s freedoms and it was in that context I used it.

“So nobody is suggesting the banning of smoking outside pubs equated to what happened to the Jews at the hands of the Nazis. But it is an analogy that those who restrict freedoms start with what they see as an easier target and then they extend their reach.”

Lashing out at the new Labour government, she said: “I have to tell you that what we see from this new socialist government should be sending shudders down people’s spines with what they are doing.”

Ms McVey is backing rightwing former Home Office minister Robert Jenrick in the Tory leadership election and recently was seen introducing him at his official launch event in Newark.

Mr Jenrick has regularly spoken out about issues surrounding antisemitism and the Holocaust.

She insisted that “no offence was meant” but also refused to delete the Tweet.

Among the many critics of the post was the Board of Deputies of British Jews who described her comment as “breathtakingly thoughtless”.

In a statement, the community organisation said: “The use of Martin Niemoller’s poem about the horrors of the Nazis to describe a potential smoking ban is an ill-considered and repugnant action.

“We would strongly encourage the MP for Tatton to delete her tweet and apologise for this breathtakingly thoughtless comparison.”

Israeli writer and founder of the Tel-Aviv Institute, Hen Mazzig, added: “A member of British parliament equates a ban on smoking to a genocide of Jews.

“If this were just a random tweet, I would make fun of it and move on. But this person is a national policymaker, and can’t tell the difference between a public health policy and the largest, most industrialized genocide in history. Smoking can kill you. Being Jewish shouldn’t have to.”