A Tory MP has defended Boris Johnson by saying that teachers and nurses partied in lockdown too.

Michael Fabricant has sparked fury with his comments earlier today (April 12) on BBC News, after the Prime Minister was fined due to Partygate.

The Lichfield MP told Shaun Ley that he thought the PM would have to come to the House of Commons next Tuesday (April 19), when Parliament returns after the Easter holiday, to apologise, Birmingham Live reports.

But he went on: "Having said that, I don’t think that at any time [Johnson] thought that he was breaking the law.

“I think that at the time he thought, just like many teachers and nurses who after a very, very long shift would tend to go back to the staff room and have a quiet drink – which is more or less what he has done."

Mr Fabricant added: "But I don’t think he thought he was breaking the law. But of course that doesn’t make any sort of excuse."

The experienced presenter then challenged the Tory MP over claiming many teachers and nurses were breaking lockdown rules with post-work drinking.

Mr Fabricant said he knew personally of some who did this: "It’s quite natural. They’ve worked really hard on a long shift and would go back to the staff room and have a drink, and I think that is more or less what has happened on a few of these occasions that we’ve heard about."

Twitter users were furious with the politician’s comments however, slamming him for the comparison.

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One wrote: “That’s an absolute insult to nurses, my wife is a nurse and I swear by god that neither she nor her colleagues attended illegal drinking parties during lockdown.”

A second commented: “FO… just FO Mike Fabricant… teachers and nurses don’t drink at work, it’s actually a sackable offence to have alcohol on the premises & you know that… but if you don’t then you should.”

A third added: “And on the teaching side; my wife is a teacher and the staff rooms were all out of bounds!!! Even before Covid, nobody ever went back to the staff room for a drink after a busy day!!!! This man infuriates me!!!!!”

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