Yes, the Conservatives cheered when they learned that they – with their new little helpers, the DUP – had achieved their goal.

What goal? Why, to treat the police who handled the terrorist attacks in London and Manchester, the firefighters who ran into the burning Grenfell Tower to save lives, and the NHS doctors and nurses who cared for the victims of all of these disasters with contempt.

Here’s the moment, captured on camera – see it for yourself:

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had earlier signalled his intention to demand an end to the public sector pay cap, which limits pay rises to just one per cent every year:

You can read more about his reasons for doing so in this Guardian article:

The unfairness of the pay cap was underlined by the decision to give the Queen a massive £40 million pay rise:

Labour MPs walked into Parliament for the vote on Wednesday wearing these badges:

And then this happened:

Commentators were quick to accuse the Tories and their newly-bribed friends, the DUP, pointing out that Theresa May found £1.5 billion to ensure she could remain as prime minister easily enough. Clearly the reason similar amounts aren’t available for nurses, firefighters, the police and all the others who actually work hard for the benefit of the UK is that Mrs May doesn’t think she needs them.

Worse still was the hypocrisy of some of the Conservative MPs.

https://twitter.com/Barkercartoons/status/880158509299638272

Here’s Heidi Allen, tweeting about the DUP deal:

Ms Allen was also filmed speaking about this in Parliament:

Great – so she voted with Labour to scrap the cap, right?

Wrong:

I wonder if she joined in the cheers.

Ms Allen tried to justify her hypocrisy after the vote:

The report in the Huffington Post quotes her as follows:

Tory MP Heidi Allen – who would like to see the cap lifted – said she was unable to back Labour’s amendment as it was “too partisan”.

She also queried introducing a blanket pay rise for all public sector workers.

“Public services includes the very highest paid chief executives, managers, Whitehall chiefs too.

“I cannot support a blanket pay rise to all of those.

“We need to focus on those public sector workers such as nurses, healthcare assistants and all those on the front line.”

So she was falling back on the basic Tory strategy – ‘divide and rule’. She’ll happily agree to a pay rise for the lower-paid if it will upset those on higher grades. Why not agree a rise for all of them that is commensurate with the work they do?

Of course, we all saw straight through her mealy-mouthed excuse, right?

Here’s another hypocrite – Loathsome Lucy Allan, who is somehow still MP for Telford, despite being a despicable louse:

https://twitter.com/xugla/status/880331712001167360

Worse still are Johnny Mercer – who called the bid to scrap the cap a “political game” – and Gary Streeter, who actually had the arrogance to claim that those of us who spoke up for our valued doctors, nurses, fire and rescue services and police “don’t deserve” a say.

Well put, Paul.

The result of Wednesday’s vote clearly shows the contempt felt by Theresa May, every single Conservative MP, and every single DUP MP, for the bravery of people like policeman Wayne Marques.

He’s the officer who fought terrorists on London Bridge, armed only with a baton, and suffered horrific injuries as a result. Here he is, talking to Channel 4’s Jon Snow about those events:

This betrayal is not going to leave our consciousness any time soon. With another election likely within the next few months, it is worth marking the words of The Angry Nurse:

https://twitter.com/The_Angry_Nurse/status/880143939264798720

Personally, I would go further.

We all know that Conservatives want a two-tier system in the UK, with the rich getting the best healthcare, security, law enforcement and so on that money can buy, and the rest of us having to make do with whatever we can afford.

Perhaps Tory MPs should get a taste of that system – whenever they need help from the police, the ambulance service, the fire and rescue service, or any other public sector worker.

Perhaps, when Tory MPs need help, their needs should be prioritised according to their actions – and they should be put at the end of the lengthening queue that they were determined to create.

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