Stamford woman whose sister took own life during lockdown 'infuriated' over 'partygate'
Boris Johnson faces a vote on whether he misled Parliament over partygate
A Stamford woman's sharing her anger over lockdown restrictions which stopped her giving her sister the funeral the family wanted.
Therese Warby took her own life during the pandemic, but COVID restrictions meant her family couldn't choose clothes for her to wear before cremation.
Her sister, Rachel, says those who attended Downing Street parties have "double standards" and that the Prime Minister's apology is not enough.
'Why did you (impose lockdowns) do that to people when you were not doing it yourself, when you were breaking the rules, not adhering to them while we all were, and that we were all punished... the hypocrisy and the double-standards I think is just infuriating', Rachel said.
Most Tory MPs rallied behind Mr Johnson on Tuesday (19th April) when he apologised in parliament for the first time since being fined ÂŁ50 by police for breaching COVID rules when at his birthday party in 2020.
"It just seemed barbaric"
COVID regulation meant Therese was only allowed to be dressed in a mortuary gown for her cremation, which Rachel says was 'barbaric' and 'lacked dignity' for her sister and her family.
Rachel added that the restrictions around Therese's cremation hit her other sister, Mary, the hardest:
'My poor sister that was the closest to her, Mary, they were so close in age - she literally would just drive around with my sister's clothes in her car hoping that she'd get a phone call from whoever to say, oh by the way, we've changed the rules now, you can put clothes on her.'
Before she died, Therese Warby had cataracts and was going totally blind after the pandemic prevented her from accessing the care she needed.
'We're upset about so many things, the isolation, the fact that she didn't get help, the fact that we couldn't help her, that if we did try and help her it would've been seen as illegal to go and help her in that time of lockdown', Rachel said.
Will the PM be held in contempt of Parliament?
MPs were supposed to vote today (21st April) on if there should be an investigation into whether Prime Minister Boris Johnson misled parliament over 'partygate'.
However, the Government are seeking to delay matters with some ministers arguing the vote should wait until the police inspections are finished.
The Prime Minister also stated he now wants to get on with tackling the problems that the country faces at present, including matters over Ukraine and the cost of living crisis.