Andrea Jenkyns is facing public anger after her rude gesture towards Boris Johnson protestors. The now-viral video captured the newly elected UK's education minister while entering 10 Downing Street and giving a middle finger to the protestors.
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People are left fuming with anger after the Tory MP gave the middle finger to Boris Johnson protestors after she was appointed as the UK’s new education minister.
Andrea Jenkyns, who also faced criticism last year for celebrating Brexit’s anniversary by tweeting ‘what a year’, was filmed making bizarre gesture towards the protestors while entering 10 Downing Street.
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Meanwhile, another clip shows her shouting ‘wait and see’ to the crowds as they booed her outside of the black gates.
The now-viral footage appeared on the Internet on July 7 and was filmed shortly before Johnson resigned as Prime Minister amid the Chris Pincher controversy.
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Only a day later, Jenkyns was given the role of parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department for Education.
The public is now left fuming with anger over the video, with one writing on Twitter: “This is so bad - imagine the reactions if a group of school children did this on a school visit to No 10?”
Another said: “@andreajenkyns great example to the nation's schoolchildren. I hope you won’t be making any comments on behaviour in schools as that would be hugely hypocritical wouldn’t it.”
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“It's sooo reassuring to have people like @andreajenkyns in the government at this turbulent time, giving the actual finger to the ordinary working people & families they keep pretending to care about,” commented a third.
Credit: Twitter/@clewlow_alex
Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson added to the conversation, tweeting: “Ministers aren’t expected to be perfect. But is it really too much to ask that they don’t treat the public like this?”
Addressing the backlash, Mark Spencer - leader of the House of Commons - said he doesn’t believe giving the middle finger was ‘the right thing to do at all’.
Talking on BBC Breakfast, Spencer shared his view on the incident, saying: “No, I don’t think it is, to be honest. I don’t seek to condone that at all.
“I mean, Andrea will have to… justify that for herself. But I do understand emotions were running pretty high and they were pretty raw on that day.
“But I don’t think that was the right thing to do at all.”
Alamy
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Jenkyns was one of the MPs to show support for Johnson this week as he announced his resignation following multiple calls to step down.
This news comes after JJohnson's scandal related to Pincher, who bowed out as deputy chief whip after claims he had groped two men.
Number 10 initially denied that Johnson knew about the claims, however, it was revealed that he was already aware of the investigation into the sexual misconduct from Pincher back in 2019.
Last week, both Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health secretary Sajid Javid stepped down, with dozens of Tory ministers following suit in what was the largest exodus of MPs in British political history.