Why Bolton West's MP quit the government over Covid

'The enemy is a virus. It can't see the information we are sharing and publishing. So why isn't the government being far more open?'

Good evening Millers - this is a members’ post based on a conversation I had earlier today with Chris Green, the Conservative MP for Bolton West.

Two weeks ago Green quit his government position because he said he could no longer support Downing Street’s policy on local lockdowns. Green wasn’t a cabinet minister - he had a role as a Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Department for Education - but his reason for quitting is interesting. Whether or not you agree with him, it’s worth trying to understand why Green took this stand because it might be an argument we see more MPs making in the months ahead.

Chris Green: “I come from a science and engineering background. Most MPs were economists or lawyers.”

It’s also interesting on a local level: Green’s constituents in Bolton have lived under some of the harshest restrictions in the country in the past few months. What he’s been hearing from them about the impacts of lockdown might be replicated across Greater Manchester as Tier 3 (an…