Tory MP criticised by Jewish leaders after using Holocaust poem to attack smoking ban plan

The poem, written in 1946, was devised to challenge the German public to accept responsibility for their part in genocide.

A SOCIAL MEDIA post by a Conservative MP has been branded as “repugnant” by the Board of Deputies of British Jews for likening the Labour Government’s proposed smoking ban to the Holocaust.

Esther McVey, a representative for the Tatton constituency in north west England took to X to share Martin Niemoller’s 1946 poem First They Came.

The poem includes the lines: “Then they came for the Jews. And I did not speak out.”

However, the former cabinet minister for common sense ended her version with a twist: “Pertinent words re Starmer’s smoking ban.”

Keir Starmer’s government is considering tighter restrictions around smoking in outdoor spaces, including pub gardens, outdoor restaurants and outside hospitals and sports grounds.

‘Breathtakingly thoughtless’

In response to McVey, the Board of Deputies of British Jews condemned the Tory MP for her choice of words, and dubbed her social media stunt as “repugnant” and “breathtakingly thoughtless”.

The Board said in a statement: “The use of Martin Niemoller’s poem about the horrors of the Nazis to describe a potential smoking ban is an ill-considered and repugnant action.

“We would strongly encourage the MP for Tatton to delete her tweet and apologise for this breathtakingly thoughtless comparison.”

Tasteless. Utterly tasteless. How can you not see that? https://t.co/w04x6ZUEly
— Rabbi David Mason (@rabbidavidmason) August 29, 2024

Health Secretary Wes Streeting responded to McVey with: “No, I do not think the postwar confessional of Martin Niemoller about the silent complicity of the German intelligentsia and clergy in the Nazi rise to power is pertinent to a Smoking Bill that was in your manifesto and ours to tackle one of the biggest killers.”

He added: “Get a grip.”

Rabbi David Mason, executive director of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality, said: “Tasteless. Utterly tasteless. How can you not see that?”

Tasteless. Utterly tasteless. How can you not see that? https://t.co/w04x6ZUEly
— Rabbi David Mason (@rabbidavidmason) August 29, 2024

Israeli writer Hen Mazzig also responded to McVey’s post, writing that it was simply not a “random” post on social media.

“A member of the British parliament equates a ban on smoking to a genocide of Jews,” Mazzig said.

If this were just a random tweet, I would make fun of it and move on. But this person is a national policymaker, and can’t tell the difference between a public health policy and the largest, most industrialized genocide in history.

He added: “Smoking can kill you. Being Jewish shouldn’t have to.”

Despite significant online criticism, McVey returned to the social media platform to discuss her analogy.

She said: “Nobody is suggesting that banning smoking outside pubs can be equated with what happened to the Jews at the hands of the Nazis. It is ridiculous for anyone to even suggest that was what I was doing.

“I am pretty sure everyone understands the point I was making and knows that no offence was ever intended and that no equivalence was being suggested.”

She then stated she would “not be bullied” into removing the social media post by people “who are deliberately twisting the meaning of my words and finding offence when they know none was intended”.