Downing Street has criticised Gary Neville for drawing parallels between strike action in the UK to Qatar’s poor record on human rights.
The football pundit caused caused controversy after he appeared to compare the two countries in a TV debate on Qatar ahead of the world cup final between Argentina and France.
The former Manchester United and England star accused the government of “demonising rail workers, ambulance workers and nurses” amid the current wave of industrial action taking place across the country.
He said: “It’s abhorrent and we should detest low pay,” he said. “We should detest poor accommodation and poor working conditions.
“And that is something that we can never ever accept, in this region or in any region.
“And it is just worth mentioning that we’ve got a current government in our country who are demonising rail workers, ambulance workers and, terrifyingly, nurses.
“So in our country we’ve got to look at workers’ rights, but certainly where football goes we have to make sure we pick up on workers’ rights wherever it goes because people have got to be equal, they’ve got to be treated equal.”
Neville was branded a “hypocrite” online by Tory MPs and commentators who pointed out that he has benefitted financially for his appearances in Qatar during the contest.
And asked about Neville’s comments, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “It is clearly not a legitimate or appropriate comparison in any way.”
Qatar has admitted that between 400 and 500 people died during the construction of the world cup stadium, although other estimates put the figure much higher.
Neville said people were being paid an “absolute pittance to work” and were being forced to stay in accommodation that was “unsavoury and disgusting”
“That shouldn’t happen here with the wealth that exists, but it shouldn’t happen in our country where our nurses are having to fight for an extra pound or an extra two pound,” he said.
Neville’s remarks divided opinion on Twitter, with some suggesting he should be free to express political views while others regarded the comparison as distasteful.
Nick Timothy, who was joint-chief of staff to Theresa May when she was prime minister, described Neville as a “paid apologist for Qatar”.
“The hypocrisy is no surprise but the failure of ITV to pre-empt this is unacceptable,” he said.
Former levelling up secretary Simon Clarke agreed and accused Neville of “politicising” the event.
Quite apart from the fact every nurse is receiving a pay rise of £1400, to compare workers’ rights in Qatar with the UK is grotesque,” he wrote.