Tory toff Jacob Rees-Mogg has been slammed by MPs for abandoning remote debates in the House of Commons - despite the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
The leader of the Commons has insisted that when parliament returns in two weeks MPs must turn up in person to take part in debates.
Scottish MPs have reacted with fury about being asked to travel the length of the country in what they see as an ill-disguised move to bolster Boris Johnson with noisy backbench support as he struggles to respond to Keir Starmer at PMQs.
Liberal Democrat Alistair Carmichael brought Rees-Mogg to task over the demand.
The Lib Dem MP said it was a vain hope that perspex screens being installed in the chamber would somehow shield the PM from scrutiny.
“Someone has obviously told him how things are being done at Tesco these days,” Carmichael added.
Orkney and Shetland MP said it was an insult to those who had died of the virus for the Government to insist MPs to undertake “non-essential journeys” to return to Parliament.
He added: “In my case, almost the entire length of this country, to stay in second homes, something which when done by leading Government advisers led to their resignation.
“If ever there was a case of do as I say, not as I do, then this is it.”
Rees-Mogg accused the Lib Dem MP of passing judgement from his “eyrie in the Shetland Islands” and insisted the decision was all about ensuring there was time to scrutinise government legislation.
He said: “We have to recognise that if we persist with the present arrangement it will become harder to make progress in a timely fashion.
The Commons Leader said social distancing will continue, limiting numbers in the chamber to 50 MPs in recent weeks.
The SNP’s Tommy Shepphard described the move as “reckless and dangerous” and said it was a “bizarre decision by Tories to abandon any ability of Parliament to work remotely”.
Earlier the SNP’s Pete Wishart MP tried to score a point on Scottish Secretary Alister Jack and Labour’s Ian Murray MP for being present in the Commons chamber during Scottish Questions.
The Perthshire MP expressed his “disappointment” that the two MPs were breaking Scottish government guidance on staying at home.
But Wishart's argument was challenged Labour MSP Neil Finlay tweeted that there were 70 MSPs, many of them SNP members, in the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh at the same time.
