Tory MP apologises after telling constituent asking about sick pay to 'get a life'

James Morris
·Senior news reporter, Yahoo News UK
·1-min read
Pauline Latham (UK Parliament/Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)
Pauline Latham (UK Parliament)
Coronavirus
Coronavirus

A Tory MP has apologised after telling a constituent to “get a life” when asking about statutory sick pay.

Pauline Latham, the MP for Mid Derbyshire, said she had been “in a state of distress” when she made the comment on Twitter on Saturday.

Latham claimed she thought the person asking her about whether £94 a week in statutory sick pay was a “keyboard warrior”.

Her original comment, which prompted more than 3,000 outraged responses, has not been deleted.

Here is the exchange:

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On Tuesday, three days after the offending post, Latham posted this apology:

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However, Latham had earlier posted another tweet appearing to stand by her “keyboard warrior” claim.

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Latham has represented the Mid Derbyshire seat since its creation in 2010.

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