The Tory Party has been taken over by “cranks, crackpots and conspiracy theorists”, Wes Streeting has declared.
The Labour frontbencher also accused transport secretary Mark Harper of “doom-scrolling TikTok to find the most bonkers thing to say” at last week’s Conservative conference.
Harper was accused of peddling “right-wing conspiracy theories” in a speech claiming some councils want to control how often people go to the shops.
Appearing on Sky News this morning, shadow health secretary Streeting said: “I am very proud of the fact that the Labour Party is appealing to the country rather than repelling people.
″My goodness, that change couldn’t have come at a better time really when you look at the cranks, the crackpots and the conspiracy theorists that have taken over the Conservative party.
“When you’ve got notionally sensible cabinet ministers like Mark Harper on your programme this morning peddling conspiracy theories as if he’s been doom-scrolling TikTok trying to find the most bonkers things to say from the conference platform.
“What are these people doing and how on earth does this affect the biggest crises in our country - the cost of living crisis, the NHS crisis?”
Streeting said Harper should “apologise and get his act together and start behaving like a serious government with the little time they’ve got left”.
Harper told the Tory conference: “There’s nothing wrong with making sure people can walk or cycle to the shops or school. That’s traditional town planning.
“But what is different, what is sinister, and what we shouldn’t tolerate, is the idea that local councils can decide how often you go to the shops, and that they can ration who uses the roads and when, and that they police it all with CCTV.”
The Department for Transport was unable to provide any evidence of local councils actually doing this.
Harper also said he was “calling time on the misuse of so-called 15-minute cities”, an idea which has gained traction among conspiracy theorists as proof that politicians want to control the population by limiting their freedom of movement.