A Tory MP has been branded “repugnant” after using a poem about the holocaust to liken it to the Labour Government’s proposed smoking ban.

MP for Tatton, Esther McVey posted the 1946 poem by Matin Neimoller titled ‘First They Came’, adding “Pertinent words re Starmer’s smoking ban.”

The poem includes lines like “then they came for the jews” and “then they came for me”.

McVey, a former Cabinet Member for common sense has been slammed by politicians and the Board of Deputies of British Jews for the "thoughtless" comparison, and she is being urged to apologise immediately.

The Board said in a statement: “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.”

Labour Health Secretary Wes Streeting added that the former Minister needs to "get a grip" for comparing a ban on smoking to the genocide of a race.

He also pointed out that a similar ban on smoking in specific areas was in the McVey’s party manifesto.

He posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying: “No, I do not think the postwar confessional of Martin Niemoller about the silent complicity of the German intelligentsia and clergy in the Nazi rise to power is pertinent to a Smoking Bill that was in your manifesto and ours to tackle one of the biggest killers.”

The executive director of the Jewish Council for Racial equality branded the comments ‘utterly tastless’.

However, McVey responded to the criticism by posting on X again saying it was "ridiculous" for anyone to suggest that she was making that comparison.

She said: “Nobody is suggesting that banning smoking outside pubs can be equated with what happened to the Jews at the hands of the Nazis. It is ridiculous for anyone to even suggest that was what I was doing.

“I am pretty sure everyone understands the point I was making and knows that no offence was ever intended and that no equivalence was being suggested.”

She then stated she would “not be bullied” into removing the social media post by people “who are deliberately twisting the meaning of my words and finding offence when they know none was intended”.

 

The news of the proposed smoking ban came after leaked proposals were reported by The Sun.

They allegedly suggested the UK Government is to ban smoking in some outdoor areas to improve public health.

The move could see smoking barred in areas including beer gardens, small parks, outdoor restaurants and hospitals.

Asked about the move, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said that as smoking was a “huge burden on the NHS” and a “burden on the taxpayer”, the Government was “going to take decisions in this space”.

First Minister, John Swinney said Scotland will “of course consider” replicating any UK Government ban but added that Holyrood ministers would “look with care at any emerging proposals.