Theresa May may no longer be in Downing Street but the veteran Tory MP was still leading by example outside her local Waitrose today.
Mrs May, who famously said the naughtiest thing she’d ever done was run through field of wheat, stuck fastidiously to social distancing while grabbing essentials at the branch in Berkshire.
Wearing a smart black blazer, a crimson scarf and dark sunglasses, she stood patiently outside the store in Reading where she looked at her phone and watched the world go by while staying 6ft from other shoppers during the Good Friday rush.
The Tory MP, 63, who quit as party leader last year after failing to deliver Brexit, spent 45 minutes browsing in the aisles for food before leaving carrying a single bag for life – a sign she’s not stockpiling either.
The former PM also followed the rules and left her husband Philip at home in Sonning, where neighbours include George and Amal Clooney and Led Zeppelin’s star guitarist Jimmy Page.
And Mrs May wasn’t the only famous face picking up essentials for the Easter weekend, with Our Girl actress Michelle Keegan seen wheeling a trolley out of M&S in Essex and Helena Bonham Carter was seen queuing outside her local Budgens in West London.
Former Prime Minister Theresa May queuing at her local Waitrose in Berkshire and adhering to social distancing rules
She reportedly spent around 45 minutes queuing outside before she was able to shop for groceries
She glanced at her phone while diligently observing the six feet rule at the store in Berkshire
Supermarkets across the country have a range of social distancing measures in place, with cordons outside the branch used by the Maidenhead MP in Berkshire.
Afterwards she was seen with her sunglasses on and heading towards the high street
Mrs May has remained a backbench MP despite quitting high office last July, but made a rare statement last week when her successor Boris Johnson was admitted to hospital.
She said: ‘My thoughts and prayers are with Boris Johnson and his family as he continues to receive treatment in hospital’ – and yesterday there was good news as she was released from hospital.
All supermarkets have brought in social distancing for all shoppers – with queues often snaking around the car park as people wait to enter.
Britons are still being urged to only go out and shop when necessary – but a lock of online shops mean that many families need to go to stores at least once a week.
There are also ongoing issues with stockpiling with shortages of many items such as toilet roll, handsoap and chopped tomatoes.
Downing Street has been forced to warn officers against ‘heavy-handed’ lockdown tactics after officers admitted to prowling through supermarket aisles in a bid to catch shoppers buying ‘non-essential’ items.
Police forces across the country have been accused of being over-zealous in their Easter weekend crackdown as they threatened to check through people’s shopping, causing #policestateUK to trend on Twitter.
Our Girl Star Michelle Keegan seen making a lockdown shop in M&S in Essex today, wearing gloves to push her trolley
Helena Bonham-Carter also followed social distancing outside her local budgens in West London today
People observe social distancing in an attempt to stop the spread of coronavirus by standing behind tape lines as they queue up to shop outside a branch of the Tesco supermarket chain in west London
There were also long queues outside Aldi in Maypole, Birmingham, as people grabbed goods for the Easter weekend
The warning saw Downing Street warn police today that ‘if a shop is open then it will sell whatever it has in stock’, while Home Secretary Priti Patel called on officers not to be ‘heavy-handed’ during the coronavirus lockdown.
It comes as Cambridge Police’s official Twitter account boasted that officers had visited a local superstore this morning to snoop on shoppers and found aisles selling non-essentials were ’empty’.
The tweet caused outrage from social media users, with many pointing to a post sent by the same account hours earlier thanking a local chocolate shop for dropping off a ‘generation donation of goodies’ at its police station.
Meanwhile a viral video showed a South Yorkshire police officer scolding a family on their own doorstep for letting their young children play on their front lawn.
The force later apologised for the encounter, which it called ‘well-intentioned but ill-informed’, after the officer told the young family: ‘You do not want your children getting the virus, it does not stop in front of your garden.’
Warnings that officers would stop and search those venturing out during the four-day break saw Britain’s roads left eerily quiet on Good Friday, on what is usually one of the busiest days of the year for car journeys.
Motorways, usually teeming with millions of holidaymakers making their way to seaside resorts, were left deserted this morning as top cops warned they would set up road blocks to grill motorists on why they were not at home.
However, supermarket shoppers are set to face even longer queues on Saturday as government rules mean larger stores cannot open on Easter Sunday.
Rules passed down by the Department for Business say no shop larger than 280sq metres can open on Easter Sunday or Christmas Day.
Despite Britain being in a state of lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, a DfB spokesman said ‘existing rules still apply’.
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