According to the Cambridge News:
A councillor has apologised for smoking on camera during a virtual council meeting.
Liberal Democrat Barbara Ashwood was taking part in the Cambridgeshire County Council communities and partnership committee via video link from her own home on July 2 when the incident [my emphasis] took place.
A Conservative councillor, Lina Nieto, drew attention to the councillor smoking by posting a screenshot on Twitter and commenting that Cllr Ashwood was "having a smoke during committee".
Just think about that for a minute. Nieto didn’t raise the issue during the meeting, which I imagine she could have done and it could have been settled without fuss within seconds.
Instead she took a screenshot of a fellow councillor smoking in her own home and posted it online for all the world to see.
The incident drew criticism from the leader of the county council, Conservative Steve Count, who said on Twitter: “I can’t believe what I’m seeing. We have responsibility for public health!”
He tagged the South Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrat group and said “inappropriate councillor behaviour when on council business”.
Aside from the fact that Steve “I can’t believe what I’m seeing!” Count must have lived a very sheltered life, I can’t help thinking that his faux outrage was driven more by party politics than concern for public health.
Likewise Lina Nieto. Would she have posted a screenshot of a Conservative councillor smoking during a virtual council meeting?
(Sorry, I forgot, no Cambridgeshire Tory smokes because they are virtuous in every way, and every one is a paragon of good health.)
I get that it was arguably unwise for Cllr Ashwood to visibly smoke - even in her own home - during a virtual council meeting, but did it merit the public shaming and apology that followed?
Cllr Ashwood told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I have apologised and Steve has accepted that apology."
Former Cambridgeshire councillor Lynda Harford was another Tory who took offence, tweeting:
Not a good look at any time but in Committee ...
‘Not a good look at any time’? What a horrible, self-righteous thing to say.
Granted, Cllr Ashford was smoking during a committee meeting (for which she apologised), but if she chooses to smoke in her own home in her own time what has that got to do with Lynda Harford or anyone else?
What comes through loud and clear here is the snobbery that underpins a lot of anti-smoking sentiment. And it’s not just Conservatives who specialise in it.
This morning Ben Cobley, author of ‘The Tribe: the liberal-left and the system of diversity’, tweeted:
This is the saddest, greyest possible morning for any pubs to open at 6am.
I can just imagine the sad lonely alcoholics standing outside the Wetherspoons right now smoking their fags as bits of rubbish blow around their ankles.
I’ve read some condescending comments in my time but that takes the biscuit. Thankfully a lot of people have taken him to task including Conservative commentator Alex Deane who tweeted:
Sometimes the mask slips and one sees what the left really thinks of the proles.
At the time of writing that tweet had 216 retweets and 776 ‘likes’ which suggests that many Tories agree with Alex.
In my experience however those Cambridgeshire councillors are more representative of mainstream Conservative opinion on smoking and other ‘working class’ habits and the party has a long way to go before it shakes off the elitism and sense of entitlement that characterises many of its members.
Until it does the so-called Blue Wall of seats in the north will never be secure and could evaporate just as quickly as the Red Wall of Labour seats before it.
See Councillor apologises after being caught smoking during virtual committee meeting