Comedian Russell Howard tears into Jacob Rees-Mogg over despicable Grenfell comments

Russell Howard
Ed Sykes


Comedian Russell Howard has torn into high-profile Tory aristocrat Jacob Rees-Mogg over his despicable comments about the Grenfell Tower fire.

As The Canary reported:

Instead of addressing the construction companies that cut corners to save money with dangerous cladding or government departments that sat on the findings of the Lakanal House fire, Rees-Mogg blamed the victims.

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Turning his attention to those who suffered and died in the disaster, he suggested they didn’t have the “common sense” to ignore advice from the fire brigade and flee the burning building.

Howard responded to this by saying:

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Instead of attacking the people who died, why don’t you deal with the fact that hundreds of buildings in this country are still covered in the same cladding as Grenfell? That’s a bit of common sense. Fix that.

After widespread uproar against his words, Rees-Mogg claimed he was “profoundly” sorry. But as former Tory MP Nick Boles said:

“This is what extreme entitlement looks like”

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also had some choice words for Rees-Mogg and his Conservative colleagues, highlighting where their attention should really be:

Labour’s Laura Pidcock, meanwhile, said:

The rapper Stormzy also started a viral Twitter thread:

Fellow hip-hop artist Lowkey joined in:

Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack, meanwhile, responded to Rees-Mogg by saying:

Residents were thrown into a terrifying, impossible situation at Grenfell – for Jacob Rees-Mogg to suggest it would be ‘common sense’ to ignore the advice that they were given was crass and insensitive. It was also callously irresponsible for a senior government figure to suggest that the public should ignore firefighters when they are in a fire.

The “stay put” policy was designed for circumstances when an evacuation is not safe and has saved countless lives in the past. However, there was no clear guidance for what firefighters should do when it failed at Grenfell. Crucially, Rees-Mogg’s Tory colleagues, Eric Pickles and Gavin Barwell, ignored warnings about the need for alternative evacuation procedures when “stay put” fails. Perhaps the Commons Leader should look closer to home.

For many people around the country, Rees-Mogg’s words will have perfectly reflected the ‘extreme entitlement’ and victim-blaming culture at the heart of the Conservative Party today. And that should give us all the fuel to work as hard as we can to get the Tories out of government.

Featured image via Russell Howard

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  • Show Comments

    1. So far as I am able to tell, Rees-Mogg is not a stupid man. So, it is puzzling he has not during his years active in politics learned to pass ideas before his critical faculties before uttering gems of ‘insight’ in public.

    2. Dear Mr Rees-Mogg
      That was truly a vile comment to make about this disaster and the victims. It can only inflame the situation which is tragic enough.
      Unless you have your own fire fighting service, you would be wise to remember that, everyone relies on the same services in the event of a fire.
      There are enough trainee arsonists already, without encouraging more, especially as they might know where you live.
      A decent apology is required and a substantial contribution to any funds to support the victims of Grenfell Tower.
      Sincerely
      A Voter

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