Esther McVey Faces Backlash for Comparing Smoking Ban to Holocaust

Conservative MP Esther McVey has come under fire for a recent social media post that compares the proposed smoking ban under Labour to the Holocaust.

McVey, the MP for Tatton, shared a modified version of Martin Niemoller’s 1946 poem ‘First They Came’ on X, formerly known as Twitter, ending her version with the phrase, ‘Pertinent words re Starmer’s smoking ban.’

The Board of Deputies of British Jews condemned her tweet as ‘repugnant’ and ‘breathtakingly thoughtless.’ They released a statement urging McVey to delete her tweet and apologize for the comparison.

In response to the backlash, Health Secretary Wes Streeting criticized the comparison, stating, ‘No, I do not think the post-war 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.’

Rabbi David Mason, the executive director of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality, described the tweet as ‘tasteless,’ while Israeli writer Hen Mazzig expressed dismay over a national policymaker equating a smoking ban to genocide.

Despite the significant criticism, McVey reiterated her stance, claiming that there was no intention to equate the smoking ban with the Holocaust. She asserted that people are ‘deliberately twisting the meaning of my words.’

Leaked documents suggest that the government might extend the ban to outdoor areas, prompting a debate among MPs and public figures regarding the impact on personal freedoms and public health.