Paul Bristow interview: Peterborough MP on anger over Dominic Cummings and free schools meals, why he broke Covid rules and government handling of pandemic

But perhaps the two issues which led to the biggest spike in correspondence centred on the Dominic Cummings saga and the free school meals debate, both of which pushed him in the spotlight for different reasons.

The controversial trip made by the Prime Minister’s chief adviser to County Durham led to widespread criticism, including from many Conservative MPs. However, Mr Bristow took a more measured tone after revealing that he had actually broken government rules to say a final goodbye to his dying father Alan, a former Whittlesey town councillor.

Looking back at that time now, Mr Bristow believes he took the right action to visit his dad in the final few hours before his death, stating he would have been “haunted” otherwise.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Peterborough Telegraph to mark his first year as MP, he said: “The biggest thing that’s happened to me during this pandemic is my father died of an aggressive brain tumour, and that was really, really tough for me because I wasn’t able to go and see him over his final weeks. I couldn’t bring his grandchildren to hug him and say goodbye.

“One of his grandchildren was only a few months old.

“I did go in the final day, a few hours before he died. I didn’t follow guidance strictly to the letter, I went to visit my dad and say goodbye. I did what I thought was best for me and my family. If I hadn’t been able to say goodbye it would have haunted me.

“I was very open and honest about that.

“And in a funny sort of way I avoided the most strident criticism of Dominic Cummings because I didn’t follow the guidance myself over that incident, and Dominic Cummings, as I understand it, travelled up north because he was doing what he felt was best for his family.

“I’m not saying what he did was right, I’m not saying what he did shouldn’t be criticised or scrutinised, but it was difficult for me to do that because of what I’d did with my father.

“I got a sizeable number of emails and letters about (Cummings), but when I explained in the way I’ve just explained to you my position, 99 per cent of people understood and were very sympathetic.”

The free school meals row proved particularly vitriolic, with Mr Bristow and his staff coming in for huge amounts of flak (and threats) for voting against a Labour motion to continue providing the meals during the school holidays until Easter 2021,

It was perhaps the first time the Conservative MP had come in for vocal public criticism but he remains defiant that he put “substance” over “politics”.

“This is the best job I’m ever going to have and I make no bones that there will be good times and bad times,” he said.

“But there was no doubt that free school meals was a tough time. Not necessarily tough because of the criticism that I’ve faced.

“It became tough because some of my staff were threatened, there were mentions of my family, and to see that excused by the local Labour Party I thought was appalling.

“That’s been one of the lowest points of doing this job for me personally.

“But what’s absolutely key is people were reacting to the politics rather than the substance of this issue. This wasn’t a vote on whether to continue free school meals or not.

“What was put in place when schools had to close in terms of a voucher system was actually the right thing to do, and it was the right thing to do to support vulnerable families over the winter period and Christmas. I’m pleased to see Marcus Rashford and the Government working together on that and coming up with the right relief package for Peterborough families over this difficult time.”

Asked about the Government’s overall record during the pandemic, Mr Bristow is largely complimentary.

He said: “I think the Government have had a very difficult hand dealt to them. It’s been a once in a generation challenge - it’s probably the biggest challenge this country has faced since the Second World War.

“Overall, there are things the Government has done well and things the Government would look back on and think it can do better. I think some of the things the Government has done incredibly well on are the concerns raised at the start about PPE (personal protective equipment) and testing - a lot of that has been overcome.

“Hundreds of millions of items of PPE have been procured and are in the hands of staff at our NHS and social care settings. That has gone particularly well.

“With testing, it’s not always widely publicised but other countries have come to London and asked the Government ‘how did you manage to ramp up testing so quickly?’ That’s been an enormous success.

“On those the Government should be proud of its record.

“The furlough scheme has also saved thousands of jobs. The economic packages together have been one of the most generous in the world.

“But there’s no doubt there are certain elements where we look back on and think we could have done things slightly differently. One of those is transfers from the NHS to social care.”

Mr Bristow spent much of the pandemic visiting local organisations and individuals who went above and beyond during the pandemic and teamed up with the PT to hold ‘Coronavirus Heroes’ awards to celebrate their efforts.

As for his opinion on how the city has responded to the pandemic, the Conservative MP responded: “I think Peterborough has done a tremendous job. The council deserves great respect and admiration for the work it’s done. Peterborough is a big city and has problems of urban density, multi-generational households and pockets of deprivation, but despite that Peterborough’s Covid level has either remained low or at a managed level.

“I think the city council deserve incredible appreciation for the way it managed this. It went into hard-to-reach communities and managed to get good take-up of social distancing and the other measures that will keep us all safe.

“The police have taken a proportional response, which I think is the right one, when it comes to these issues. I’d like to see a crackdown on these illegal parties we’ve seen in parts of Peterborough - they were absolutely disgraceful.

“I wish the police would take a tougher approach to some of those. I understand why they didn’t, but now is the time to make sure we don’t slip further and we try to get that rate down.

“Of course, the biggest thanks go to our NHS and care staff who have done amazing work looking after us and our loved ones when they became ill.

“The fact that Peterborough City Hospital has coped and not seen the same challenges that other hospitals in other parts of the country are facing - we’ve not seen people on trollies like in Spain and Italy - it deserves huge support.

“But if there are people I want to say ‘thank you’ too, it’s those hidden heroes, because so many people in our communities went that extra mile to support their neighbours, to support those who are vulnerable, those who are shielding, and it really has proven that together we are one city.”

This is one of a five-part interview with Mr Bristow.

The remaining articles will appear at: https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/politics.