A TORY MP has apologised after attacking journalists for their “sick obsession” with UK’s coronavirus death toll.

Jonathan Gullis hit out on social media after broadcaster James O’Brien said the media should not “sugarcoat” the soaring number of deaths.

As of yesterday, 26,097 people have died in the UK after testing positive for coronavirus. The true figure is believed to be significantly higher.

“Our death toll is now, by any measure, among the very worst in the world. Quite clearly as a result of political decisions & incompetence,” O’Brien added.

Gullis initially insisted the UK Government’s response “hasn’t been politically driven”.

In a now-deleted follow-up, he wrote: “With regards to the media’s sick obsession over the total tragic deaths from COVID-19 you can’t lazily compare the total number when country’s have different density, population size, age demographics as well as some countries manipulating figures (like China) or underreporting.”

The National:

READ MORE: UK Government ‘official’ coronavirus death toll passes 26,000

The Stoke-on-Trent North, Kidsgrove & Talke MP was soon facing a backlash, forcing him to apologise.

He tweeted: “In aa tweet I said the media had a ‘sick obsession’ with the total deaths from COVID-19. I reacted to @mrjamesob poorly and I apologise for it.

“My point is that the media haven’t explored the complexity of wide ranging factors that are involved when trying to compare figures.”

He also clarified he was "heartbroken at the lives lost to COVID-19 as everyone else is".

O'Brien replied: "Next time, maybe run what you're planning to tweet past the people who instructed you to do it?"

Social media users weren’t entirely convinced by the Tory's apology.

One comment read: “If it's not even lunchtime and you're having to tweet ‘Let me be clear, I think death is bad’ then it may be time to get off Twitter for a bit and go for a walk? Sun's out!”

Another said: “You publicly abdicated Govt responsibility for managing the crisis, putting all of it on scientists. Did scientists tell the PM to boast about shaking the hands of Covid patients in the week that Italy passed 100 deaths?”

Others pointed out “wide-ranging” factors that the MP seemed not to be acknowledging himself.

One Twitter user wrote: “Imagine your embarrassment when you remember that the NHS was on its knees before this crisis even started, due to 10 years of neglect and underfunding by your party. Awkward!”

Another posted: “Any govt of any country has, as its first responsibility in office, to ensure the safety & security of its own citizens. This Tory govt, your govt, failed to make that responsibility its main priority & as a result we have far more deaths than might have otherwise been the case.”