Conservative backbenchers have expressed their anger over comments made by Jenny Harries, warning people to cut down on “unnecessary socialising”.

Harries, the chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency and head of NHS Test and Trace, made the comments during the morning broadcast rounds.

The government denied this morning that it shared Harries’ position that the public should not socialise ‘when we don’t particularly need to’.

Sir Desmond Swayne asked the government to “deprecate” the comments, whilst Steve Brine said the comments were pointedly deliberate.

“She doesn’t just say things on the cuff without thinking”, he told the House.

Maggie Throup, parliamentary under-secretary for vaccines and public health, stated she could not “speak for any other person who goes on the airwaves.”