Credit;PA
Conservative MPs have threatened to boycott the Tory party conference if coronavirus vaccine passports are required for entry.
It comes as Jacob Rees-Mogg has insisted it is “reasonable” for him and Conservative colleagues not to wear face masks in the House of Commons chamber.
Former minister Steve Baker was among those to say they would not attend the event in October over their outrage that jabs could become mandatory to access crowded venues.
Conservative rebels are planning to ally with Labour to defeat the plan to make full vaccination a requirement of entry for clubs and venues with large crowds from the end of September.
With at least 42 Tory MPs having signalled they would not vote in favour of vaccine passports, the Government faces the real prospect of a Commons defeat.
But, regardless of whether they are required by law, the party could insist they are used at the conference in Manchester in order to set an example.
Workington MP Mark Jenkinson said he was double jabbed and booked for the venue, but added: “I won’t be going to conference if we’re excluding people on the basis of vaccination their status.”
Mr Baker, the deputy chairman of the Covid Recovery Group of lockdown-sceptic Tories, added: “With a heavy heart, and apologies to event organisers, likewise.”
Tory peer Baroness Morrissey said she would join them, and reports suggested more could follow.
A boycott would be an embarrassment for Boris Johnson, who will hope he can get his agenda on track and unify the party after coronavirus forced 2020’s conference online and caused divisions among his ranks.
Labour said it would not support vaccine passports, criticising the scheme as “costly, open to fraud” and “impractical”, as well as potentially ineffective.
Currently, use of the NHS app to demonstrate whether clubgoers are vaccinated or have had a negative test is voluntary.
The jokers on social media quickly added their thoughts on the quarrel.
Related: ‘It’s 2021 not 1821’: Rees-Mogg accused of racism over Commons comments
