Children in ‘crack dens’ and ‘brothels’? A Tory MP accidentally exposed the state of Britain’s care system.
In a now deleted tweet, Conservative MP for Mansfield Ben Bradley said that in his constituency, “One kid lives in a crack den, another in a brothel”.
He went on to say that free school meal vouchers effectively lined the pockets of drug dealers and pimps. This tweet was part of a defensive thread explaining why he was one of over 300 Conservative MPs who voted against proposals to provide disadvantaged children in England with free meals until Easter 2021.
But Bradley’s comments didn’t go unnoticed on Twitter:
Putting “£20 going to a crack den” aside.
It alarms me that Ben Bradley knows there’s a child living in a brothel/crack den in his patch, and he’s seemingly content, knowing that.
I wouldn’t sleep if there was evidence a child in Tooting was in that situation. pic.twitter.com/TLLIALKMaX
— Dr Rosena Allin-Khan (@DrRosena) October 24, 2020
It turns out that ghoul Ben Bradley – who says parents of hungry kids will somehow spend school meal vouchers on crack and prostitutes – claimed £58,985.65 in HoC expenses in 11 months.
That's £5,362.33 a month. Free. Who's really bleeding the system @BBradley_Mans?#ShameOnYou
— David Maddock (@MaddockMirror) October 24, 2020
Tories: Good work, lads. All that focusing on Angela Rayner seems to have distracted the attention from us being horrible child-starving bastards. We've got through the week unscathed!
Ben Bradley: pic.twitter.com/U2z1iRqglK— Drivelcast (@drivelcast) October 23, 2020
Bradley may be lying in his shocking tweet. Or perhaps he has inadvertently shone a light on the dismal state of Britain’s care system under the Tory government.
Forced out of care
A spokesperson for Become, a charity for children in care, told The Canary:
Though we don’t know the specifics relating to the situation in Mansfield, we do know that lots of children leaving care will end up in desperation coming out of the care system without support. Too many are left homeless or living in unsuitable accommodation. We are calling on the government to end this care cliff so that care leavers can get the support they need.
In June 2020, children’s charity Just for Kids Law published a report revealing that hundreds of vulnerable 16- and 17-year-olds aren’t being taken into care. Many are left to fend for themselves in unregulated accommodation, while others face homelessness, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.
Regardless of whether Bradley’s comment is true or not, it has shone a light on the Tory government’s appalling failures to protect the welfare of vulnerable children. The vote against feeding hungry children was just another indication of the government’s stubborn and determined campaign to neglect the children and young people most in need of support.
Perhaps Bradley should focus his energies on ensuring no child in his constituency is living in unsafe conditions, rather than advocating against free school meals on Twitter and Newsnight.
Featured image via Ev Style/Unsplash.
Over 2,000 paediatricians write to Boris Johnson asking he extend free school meals for the holidays
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Disgraceful how blatantly he used this information yet if one looks at universal credit then some will turn to the oldest profession in the world just so that they can provide whot government won’t disgraceful MP him and his Eck shamefully our so called labour MPs under stammer the spammer ain’t doing much about it
And the oldest profession is vastly more honourable than his. At least it provides services.
It’s even more egregious than THAT!
Think about it – he publicly said that children in ‘crack dens’ should not be fed. If he doesn’t think the CHILDREN there should be fed, presumably he also thinks that about the adults there too.
In short, he has talked himself into believing the poorest and most desperate in OUR SOCIETY, in OUR COMMUNITIES, should starve to death.
Let that sink in.
It would be more shocking if we had not observed this mentality IN GOVT for the past 10 years.
It also exposes for the BS it is the “targeted welfare” policy. Just another Blairite (Neoliberal scum) scam to cut welfare and funnel money to the wealthiest.
Let’s hope he’s too much of an ignorant illiterate savage to have heard of Jonathon Swift’s ‘A Modest Proposal For preventing the Children of Poor People From being a Burthen to Their Parents or Country, and For making them Beneficial to the Publick’ – http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1080
Swift argues the poor be farmed for their meat, something Bradley would probably take at face value and start advocating as government policy.
Wow, the Dickens world of 1850 born again in a Make England Proud sentiment. Just feeding the pimps with Governement Money too. Forget the children.
“Hostile environment.” A mantra introduced by a Labour government.
#SellTheChildren
He says, “Many in genuine need won’t benefit from it [free school meals] due to extreme lives and problems.”
I don’t live in the UK, so I might be wrong, but I thought the idea was to supply kids with actual, physical, tangible meals, not vouchers or credits. So why wouldn’t they benefit?
And mightn’t they be safer in crack dens or brothels than anywhere near the likes of Bradley?
PS To Canary staff:
Why am I being bombarded with soft porn on your website?
Clicking on the pictures of very scantily clothed women leads me to here, if it’s any help:
https://join.secondlife.com/?lang=it-IT&utm_source=Google&network=d&campaignid=11408742852&adgroupid=111714822877&placement=dev.thecanary.co&creative=473946060169&gclid=Cj0KCQjwxNT8BRD9ARIsAJ8S5xbvuTrkY6Dze51M64224W14api4wgPNvlxCnVvf22-c8JGpGo0VL0QaArJxEALw_wcB
Direct consequence of the housing crisis. Where would you rather live, in a disused office on an industrial estate or in a brothel in the town centre?