Tory MP 'forgot' to wear face covering on train despite Boris Johnson's second wave warning
Less than two weeks before his own memory slip, Mr Kruger reminded constituents they ‘MUST wear a face covering’, unless exempt
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Your support makes all the difference.A Conservative MP and close ally of Boris Johnson has apologised after being pictured on a train without a mask.
Danny Kruger, who served as the Prime Minister's political secretary before the general election, has admitted he “forgot” to put on a face covering while on the hour-long train journey from his Wiltshire constituency to London.
A photograph emerged over the weekend, showing Mr Kruger sitting at a train table wearing earphones, with the caption: "Don't blame it on the young people Boris [Johnson] when your own party aren't even following your rules."
Mr Kruger, who also worked as David Cameron's speechwriter while he was Leader of the Opposition, said in a statement: "I boarded an almost empty carriage at Hungerford and quite simply forgot to put on my mask.
"When I got to Paddington I realised my mistake and covered up for the rest of my journey.
"If the person had reminded me rather than taking a photo and posting it on social media I would of course have put on my mask then and there.
"I do apologise for my mistake."
On 7 September, less than a fortnight before his own memory slip, Mr Kruger – a self-confessed "old friend" of Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister's de facto chief of staff who travelled more than 250 miles during the lockdown in April – told his constituents in a Facebook message that they "MUST wear a face covering", unless exempt.
Great Western Railway, the train operator that runs the route between Hungerford and Paddington, warns passengers on its website that they face a £100 fine for failing to wear a face covering on its services.
Mr Kruger's apology comes after the Prime Minister warned on Friday that the UK was now experiencing a second wave of coronavirus infections and announced fines of up to £10,000 for people who test positive for the virus and refuse to self-isolate.
Mr Johnson is preparing to address MPs on Tuesday amid rumours that national lockdown measures banning socialising between two households could be put in place in a bid to arrest the virus's spread.
But Professor Paul Hunter, an expert in health protection at the University of East Anglia, said on Monday that there were examples of “people in authority” who were not following the government's coronavirus-related restrictions.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We've certainly seen a lot of confusion and a lot of mixed messages over the past few months and examples of people in authority who don't feel that they need to follow the rules themselves."
Additional reporting by the Press Association
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