Lee Anderson: Tory MP apologises to doctor over strike tweet

Conservative Party deputy chairman Lee Anderson has apologised to a doctor over a "misleading" social media post.

He offered his "sincerest apologies" to Tom Dolphin for any distress caused by a post on X, formerly Twitter, related to the ongoing junior doctors strike.

The MP has also agreed to pay £1,870 to the British Medical Association (BMA) strike fund to "compensate the upset I may have caused".

Dr Dolphin tweeted to thank Mr Anderson for his "very gracious apology".

On 6 October, in a tweet which appears to have been deleted, the MP for Ashfield shared a Mail Online article that reported Dr Dolphin had "boasted of charging the NHS for a strike cover shift".

On Sunday, he wrote a post to say that his words had been misleading as Dr Dolphin "was not on strike on the date of the shift in question but was simply covering a shift as a consultant for junior doctors who were on strike on 11 August 2023".

Mr Anderson, who is also a presenter on the GB News channel, said that he understood Dr Dolphin had donated the pay for his covered shift to the BMA strike fund, and "whilst I do not agree with the strikes" this was an unselfish act and he would make the same contribution to the fund.

Dr Dolphin responded to the apology saying: "A very gracious apology, thank you Lee Anderson.

"Thanks also for the donation. I hope it inspires others to donate to the strike fund as well."

The BMA said doctors had been "repeatedly misrepresented by the government during this industrial dispute" and said it was good the false claims about Dr Dolphin had been corrected.

Junior doctors have staged a series of strikes in the long-running dispute about pay and conditions in the NHS in England. The latest talks to try to resolve the dispute took place last week and have been described as "constructive".