Priti Patel today launched a scathing attack on influencers ‘showing off in sunny parts of the world’ as she revealed travellers would be stopped from leaving the UK if their journey is not essential.
The Home Secretary slammed reality TV stars for bragging about their holidays and people ‘turning up with their skis at St Pancras Station’, adding, ‘Going on holiday is not an exemption.’
Scores of reality TV stars ‘used loop holes’ to flee to Dubai to lounge in luxury hotels, pose for pictures with cocktails on sun loungers and enjoy beach parties.
Love Island 인계동가라오케 star Laura Anderson, 31, said she had gone to Dubai as a ‘coping mechanism’ to deal with Covid, adding: ‘I felt guilty the whole time.’
Many influencers claim they flew more than 3,000 miles for ‘unavoidable work trips’ – with some even going so far as to suggest that their social media posts should make them ‘essential workers’.
But now expats working in Dubai have accused them of ‘taking the f***ing p***’ by claiming they are in the city for work, and risking spreading the virus to residents by partying and flouting social distancing.
And government sources told MailOnline people have been ‘exploiting grey areas’, with ‘high profile people getting away with it,’ adding, ‘what they are claiming as work is not.’
As the criticism surrounding influencers intensified today, the Prime Minister warned that Brits leaving the UK will be quizzed at the border to make sure they are not jetting off for a holiday.
![Yazmin Oukhellou, who appears on TOWIE, told fans she and her boyfriend were '[In Dubai] for work purposes, for business'. She added: 'Obviously we'll make the most of it while we're here as well.'](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Hard graft: Yazmin Oukhellou told fans she was, ‘[In Dubai] for work purposes, for business’, but added: ‘Obviously we’ll make the most of it while we’re here as well.’ Right, Laura Anderson was met with a furious backlash when she moaned about how hard it was to be an ‘influencer’
James Lock (pictured) and Yazmin Oukhellou have been out in Dubai with James regularly posting pictures of himself with a laptop working
Love Island star Georgia Steel (pictured left) was in Dubai but has recently been posting snaps beside crystal blue waters in The Maldives.
Pictured right: Molly Mae Hague posted snaps in the Maldvies, but is now back in the UK
The Home Secretary slammed reality TV stars for bragging about their holidays and people ‘turning up with their skis at St Pancras Station’, adding, ‘Going on holiday is not an exemption.’
Chloe Ferry, 수원가라오케 who travelled out to Dubai at the end of last year – before lockdown measures were introduced, originally claimed she had hoped to stay for ‘two months’
Anton Danyluk (pictured left) shared that he was heading to Dubai on December 10.
He is since thought to have lost 14,000 followers on Instagram
Addressing MPs today, Boris Johnson warned: ‘I want to make clear that under the stay home regulations, it is illegal to leave home to travel abroad for leisure purposes.