Mogg talks his way into Grenfell row
‘Crass’ radio remark may force No 10 to rein him in
JACoB rees-Mogg faces being taken off the airwaves by No 10 over remarks he made about the Grenfell Tower disaster in a radio phone-in.
The Tory Leader of the House was forced to apologise yesterday for suggesting the victims should have used ‘common sense’ and ignored instructions from the fire service not to leave the burning building.
Downing Street is considering ordering Mr rees-Mogg to give up his monthly slot on LBC as it looks to ‘rein in’ his broadcast appearances.
His comments led to a wave of criticism from opposition
‘Insulting to the families’
MPs, victims’ families and rapper Stormzy – a Grenfell campaigner – who called the Cabinet member an ‘actual piece of s***’.
But last night Mr reesMogg’s fellow Tory MP Andrew Bridgen risked deepening the row by suggesting his colleague was ‘cleverer’ than the 72 who died in the inferno.
During Monday’s phone-in, Mr rees-Mogg discussed the London Fire Brigade’s controversial ‘stay put’ policy, which has been the subject of sustained criticism.
He told LBC host Nick Ferrari that, if they had been in the tower at the time, they might have ignored the advice.
He said: ‘If you just ignore what you’re told and leave you are so much safer.
‘I think if either of us were in a fire, whatever the fire brigade said, we would leave the burning building. It just seems the common sense thing to do.’
Yesterday, after a backlash from listeners and survivors of the fire, Mr rees-Mogg said he was ‘profoundly’ sorry and said his comments were based on what we know with hindsight. ‘I would hate to upset the people of Grenfell if I was unclear in my comments,’ he added.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn denounced the ‘crass’ and ‘insensitive’ remarks yesterday, while Grenfell United, which represents survivors and victims’ relatives, said they were ‘extremely painful and insulting to bereaved families’.
of the 72 who died in the 2017 blaze, 55 were thought to have followed the fire service’s ‘stay put’ policy for almost two hours after the first 999 call.
Stormzy, who has been outspoken over Grenfell, called for ‘alien’ Mr rees-Mogg to resign for suggesting those who died in the fire were ‘dumb’.
Tory MP Mr Bridgen’s defence of his colleague threatened to make the row worse. He told radio 4’s PM programme that Mr rees-Mogg was an ‘extremely intelligent’ man whose comments were ‘uncharacteristically clumsy’. He added that he ‘is a leader, he is an authority figure’ who had failed to realise ‘most people will probably defer to the advice of an authority figure’.
When it was put to Mr Bridgen that Mr rees-Mogg was in effect saying he would not have died because he was ‘cleverer’ than those who followed the advice, he replied: ‘But we want very clever people running the country, don’t we?’
Labour’s Andrew Gwynne called Mr Bridgen’s comments ‘contemptible’ and said he should be removed as a Tory candidate in the election.