When Margaret Ferrier called for the immediate sacking of Dominic Cummings for his astonishingly cavalier interpretation of coronavirus rules, she seemed to have grasped the key message underlying the guidance.
“The public health advice is crystal clear,” Ms Ferrier thundered back in May after Boris Johnson’s adviser’s 260-mile drive from London to the north of England. “For the safety of others, anyone with coronavirus symptoms must self-isolate, in line with government guidance. They should not leave the house for any reason.”
So, what possessed Ms Ferrier to think, a few months later, that having experienced symptoms herself and having booked a Covid test it would be a good idea to get on the train to London to go to work in the House of Commons?
And what was going through the mind of the Rutherglen and Hamilton West MP when she got back on the train to go home after her test result came back positive? As so many people have pointed out, the MP’s mind-boggling actions have risked transmitting a potentially fatal virus to fellow train passengers and House of Commons colleagues.
Inevitably, it has done untold damage to her career and she could even face criminal charges for a breach of Covid-19 regulations that has been judged even more flagrant than Mr Cummings’s notorious trip to Barnard Castle. Suspended from the SNP, she is facing calls to quit as an MP, including a plea from her friend and leader Nicola Sturgeon.
As Ms Sturgeon said at her press briefing, Ms Ferrier was unable to give a “cogent explanation” as to why she acted in the way she did. All this is enormously unhelpful for the SNP leader as she tries to keep the public onside while she makes unpopular decisions to tighten guidance to combat the accelerating spread of the virus.
Ms Sturgeon’s hope must be that the suspension of Ms Ferrier and the accompanying publicity underlines just how serious breaching the regulations is. That was the line when Ms Sturgeon lost Dr Catherine Calderwood after it emerged her Chief Medical Officer had disobeyed her own guidelines by taking two trips to her holiday home in Fife.
Awkward questions for Nicola Sturgeon
The loss of Ms Ferrier, a relatively obscure political figure, from the SNP will not hurt Ms Sturgeon as much as losing her trusted medical adviser when it come comes to the science of the fight against Covid.
But there is still the potential for Ms Ferrier’s behaviour to do some political damage. Ms Sturgeon maintains the SNP has acted as swiftly as it could have under the circumstances and makes the point that it is not within her power to make Ms Ferrier stand down as an MP.
But her opponents are demanding Ms Ferrier’s rapid expulsion (as opposed to suspension) from the party and are asking awkward questions about when exactly SNP high command knew of the extent of the MP’s contravention of the guidelines.
Ms Ferrier took the Covid test on Saturday and travelled to London on Monday, where she was notified of her positive result that night. The next day she got back on the train to go home. Her statement revealing what she had done was not made public until late on Thursday.
Ms Sturgeon said the SNP did not know until Wednesday that Ms Ferrier had tested positive. At that point the SNP believed she had been tested after arriving back home. Information from the House of Commons track and trace mechanism revealed to the SNP on Thursday that she had actually taken the test before coming to London.
But even if Ms Ferrier takes Ms Sturgeon’s advice and resigns as an MP that will create another headache. Who would want to fight the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election in the middle of a pandemic?