Laurence Fox sparks fury as he slams NHS and says staff 'aren't my saviours'

Laurence Fox sparked a huge debate today after branding the NHS 'unfit for purpose' and saying health service staff 'aren't my saviours.' 

The actor, who is currently trying to turn his hand to a career in politics, previously revealed he had a 'large group' over for lunch - despite England's lockdown rules banning people from meeting indoors, or outdoors in groups larger than six. 

After enjoying the get-together at the weekend, Fox tweeted: 'The @nhs isn't my church and salvation. It's employees aren't my saviours. 

'If you can't deal with a 99.9% survival rate virus, you aren't fit for purpose. You don't need protecting, my elderly relatives do. I also love your emergency care and will continue to pay for it. For now.'

Fox's followers agreed with his sentiment, with one writing: 'The NHS has become a sacred cow that we daren't criticise. They are there to protect us the taxpayer, who pays their wages.'

Twitter user Lewis Brown wrote: 'I’m not a covid denier but the rules are ludicrous. As an example, myself and my whole family have now had covid so what reason could their possibly be for us not gathering at Christmas.[sic]'  

This comes as ministers face a furious backlash from MPs over claims the NHS will be unable to cope unless a near-lockdown continues for months.

Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove insisted that every hospital in England will be overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients without draconian restrictions.

But Tory rebels called for 'hard evidence, not hyperbole' and said Mr Gove must publish the evidence for his assertion.

Boris Johnson is also moving to quell a growing Tory rebellion over his draconian new tier system by offering a series of concessions, ahead of a crunch Commons vote tomorrow.

Actor Laurence Fox is currently turning his hand to a career in politics

Fox revealed he had a 'large group' over for lunch before hitting out at the NHS in a series of tweets

Mr Fox's message followed an earlier Tweet: 'Just had a large group over to lunch and we hugged and ate and talked and put the world to rights. 

'It was lovely. You'll never take that away from people. Stay out. 

'Protect your rights... If the @nhs isn't fit for purpose. Compliance is violence.' 

The tweets sparked a fierce debate online. 

One of his fans wrote: 'Why are we protecting the NHS? Surely they are paid to protect us?' 

Another added: 'I am lucky enough to have a relationship with my GP of 18 years. All I could get was a telephone appointment, and that took two months. When he did eventually ring his first words were "Come and see me I don't like telephone consultations." Later that day I did. #NHS is broken.'

Actor Mark Dexter, who has appeared in Doctor Who and The Crown, tweeted: 'Wasn’t going to get involved with the Laurence Fox stuff, but now he’s bragging about putting my family at risk, I figure why not. 

'I was once up against him for a US TV role - to play the son of James Fox’s character. As in, Laurence’s actual dad. I got it.'  

Piers Morgan also hit out at Fox over his Covid-19 tweets amid England's nationwide four-week lockdown.

During Good Morning Britain on Monday, Piers angrily hit out at Laurence, telling him the pandemic is 'not about you'.

He fumed: 'He's made a lot of good comments about the wokies, I have sympathy for him. 

'But his behaviour in the pandemic has gotten reckless. [He reads out the tweet].

'Laurence, why don't you just shut up? Seriously? Think about all the people who can't see all their loved ones in care homes because they're following the rules.

'Not for their desire to carry on as normal, but because they're thinking about other people. I just found that tweet ridiculous.

'It's for the most vulnerable in our society, it's to stop them being killed. It's not about you.'

The presenter went on to plead with Laurence to 'think about' what he was doing as he slated the TV star's actions.

He continued: 'Think about what you're doing Laurence. You have 250k followers and you tweet garbage like that.'

Fox's fans waded into the debate as they defended him and agreed with his sentiment

Piers also described Laurence's controversial tweet slamming the NHS as a 'selfish kick in the teeth' for frontline workers

The actor, 42, revealed on Twitter that he had a 'large group' over for lunch - despite England's lockdown

Fox was at the centre of another storm earlier this year over comments he made on Question Time regarding racism.

The 42-year-old faced a backlash after claiming that he found it racist for someone to say he has 'white privilege'. 

During his programme he clashed with a member of the audience who said Meghan Markle has been subjected to racism. Fox replied saying that 'playing the race card was getting boring'.

His comments resulted in over 200 Ofcom complaints and Laurence came under fire again in October, when he urged fans to boycott Sainsbury's for supporting Black History Month, as he accused the supermarket of 'segregation'.

He has now set up his own political party called the Reclaim Party which he says has already received £5million in donations and hopes to reform publicly-funded institutions - like the BBC - to 'promote an open space' for freedom of speech.