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news
Dido Harding and Steve Bray (via Steve Bray on Twitter)Test and Race – Dido Harding sprints away on Boris Bike as she’s quizzed over COVID-19 spend
Dido Harding has been filmed sprinting up Whitehall on a Boris Bike* as a protester tried to quiz her over the £37 billion track and trace spend, with the Tory peer putting in a performance worthy of former Olympic champion Victoria Pendleton as she sped away from traffic lights.
Harding, a life peer since 2014 and appointed in May 2020 to oversee what was then called the track, test and trace programme by then health secretary Matt Hancock, was waiting at a traffic light at the junction of Parliament Square with Whitehall when she was spotted by Steve ‘Mr Stop Brexit’ Bray.
A coin dealer from Port Talbot, south Wales, Bray sprang to fame in the wake of the 2016 referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU and in the past few years has regularly appeared on TV news programmes photo-bombing reporters and the politicians they are interviewing outside Parliament.
I’ve never seen anyone move so fast on a Boris bike in my life… earlier today I tried to ask Dido Harding about £37,000,000,000 Test & Trace and where the money had gone. pic.twitter.com/eLeaRKjsIF
— Steve Bray "Viva la revolution" (@snb19692) January 25, 2022
Running across Whitehall, Bray – who has continued his protests outside the Palace of Westminster and Downing Street despite the UK leaving the EU – asked Harding, “What happened to the £37 billion?” that the government set aside for the test and trace programme.
Harding ignored him as she headed towards the Cenotaph with Bray shouting, “Where’s the £37 billion gone?” before adding a parting shot of “On your bike!”
It’s not just the ability to pedal up to speed quickly from a standing start that Harding and Pendleton have in common – both have raced as amateur jockeys.
Pendleton finished a very creditable fifth in the Foxhunters’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in 2016 despite first taking to horseback the previous year, while Harding – who sits on the main board of the Jockey Club – was runner-up in the 1996 running of the same race riding her own horse, Cool Dawn, which went on to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup two years later.
*Regular readers will know that we usually use the term Santander Cycles, the scheme’s current sponsor – although in this specific case it seems entirely appropriate to reference the [checks Guardian Politics Live in case we missed any news in the past hour or so] current Prime Minister, who as Mayor of London introduced the bikes in 2011, leading to them gaining their popular nickname.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- quiff 2 sec ago
Even before you get on to the myriad other competing things, headlights are not actually mandatory where there is street lighting. I don't know if...
- brooksby 44 min 45 sec ago
You mean that they are Otherwise Law-Abiding™ ?
- brooksby 56 min 15 sec ago
And finally: I wonder how many of the "more than 3,000" signatures on that petition are actually locals, who live or work there (and are not just...
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Another book suggestion - I can highly recommend "Lost Summers and Half-Forgotten Afternoons: A Mint Sauce collection" - a beautifully presented...
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But... the last is only not the case with drivers on normal roads because driving on the cycle path / footway / rolling a vehicle up there is seen...
- mdavidford 4 hours 22 min ago
I think you're missing an opportunity to pack even more tech into it - add accelerometers that can detect whether they're pedalling or stepping....
- chrisonabike 4 hours 47 min ago
Thanks. I guess the question is "need". If the road is busy, it sounds like it is a desired route between places? In which case (given this an...
- mdavidford 4 hours 55 min ago
Don't know what you mean. I thought my suggestion was entirely practical.
- Rapha Nadal 5 hours 29 min ago
I'd buy a motorbike fo rthat kind of money!
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20 comments
Well I have no liking of tories or peers (heriditary or lifetime) but I think I would probably react the same way in the circumstances. I am also pleased to see her choosing to ride a bike. I cannot believe I'm defending a tory peer!
You're not defending a tory peer - You're defending a member of teh public that chose to ride a bike to or from work.
I believe Ms Harding to be incompetent and corrupt, however I don't want there to be a character test before being afforded the common consideration and courtesy to be able to travel on the public highway in safety, without intimidation or harassment.
PS I really am in full agreement with you, am just underlining your statement
You have, of course, hit the nail on the head.
The lunatic chasing her hasn't even got his facts straight - £37b was a multi year budget and a good chunk of it has yet to be spent. Around 85% of it so far has gone on the "test" element - with the uk ranking 3rd in the number of covid tests completed so far.
Test & Trace - unimaginable cost, partly due to paying consultants £1,000 a day, and did not make a measurable difference to the pandemic.
It's perhaps not surprising he didn't go into the accounts line by line, but the broad thrust of what he said is correct.
Ah, so they haven't spent it all yet? That makes it all alright then.
I mean, I'd sprint away from a weirdo who'd just run across the road to wave something in my face, too.
I imagine that Jo Cox and David Amess are still fresh in many MP's memories.
Total LIES that you fell for.
More lies.
Ah, you started well but...
Garage El Largo has a thing about large men. Love 'em or loath 'em, they frequently feature. Maybe we should open a "Giants on Giants" thread? Or "bruisers on cruisers"? The only one I can think of immediately is a custom job though - Anthony Joshua's FiftyOne.
Odd man out is Trump who sponsored a cycle race but is a bit bike-shy. Needless as now I believe you can get brakes to fit all hand sizes and geometries.
Hmmm... They might be giants....
What are we going to do unless they are?
You could make a road movie. Just not sure where to go to...
No, that would be women and (large) men...
Damn it! Now I've got 'Whistling in the dark' stuck in my head...
Oh yes the old lie that those pesky Europeans wasted 'our' money. A lie that completely ignores the UK government's role in setting the budget, overseeing the budget and spending the budget. Why are you still such a sore winner?
Because to recognise the reality of teh benefits of EU membership, the esteem that we were held in the EU by our partners, and how that augmented our relevance and influence worldwide, would mean that we would have to admit that we were absolutely stupid facking w⚓s ever to have left.
...I fear you may have a point.