A Tory MP accuses Jeremy Corbyn of having a messiah complex for caring about hungry children

Conservative MP Simon Hoare has accused Jeremy Corbyn of having a messiah complex for caring about hungry children:

Go on Jezza: do your thing with the loaves and fishes! Best to stop walking on the water before you do though https://t.co/h7s1es2Jk4

— Simon Hoare MP (@Simon4NDorset) July 28, 2017

Hoare was mocking the Labour leader for branding a million hungry children a “national disgrace”:

This is a national disgrace. We can't have millions of children going hungry over the school holidays. https://t.co/fy132BmgXZ

— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) July 28, 2017

Four million children in the UK live in poverty, according to the government’s own figures. Yet Hoare suggests that, in the ninth largest economy, only a Jesus-like miracle could stop that happening.

Food poverty has skyrocketed under the Conservatives

Contrary to Hoare, the Conservative government is directly responsible for pushing ordinary people into food poverty. The number of three-day food packages sent out by the Trussell Trust alone increased from 40,898 to 1,182,954 between 2010 and 2016-17. That’s a record-breaking increase of 2,792% since the Conservatives came to power.

But it’s worse than that. A report by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Hunger estimates that over half the emergency food issued comes from organisations independent from the Trussell Trust’s figures. This means the real numbers are much higher.

Like Tory MP Hoare, the government tries to downplay the connection between its policies and food bank use, saying that it’s “complex”. But an Oxford University study confirms a “robust link” between the stripping down of the welfare state and food bank use.

Unnatural world order

By suggesting that only a miracle can solve hunger, Hoare wants to alleviate his government from responsibility. The message: poverty is a fact of life and society can’t change that.

Theresa May made a similar attempt in March. When Vogue asked May what her superpower would be, she said:

I think I’d want to make sure that everyone in the world had access to clean water and sufficient food, so that we didn’t see people starving.

In reality, the Conservatives are facilitating hunger in one of the world’s richest countries. So Corbyn is absolutely right to brand their child poverty record a “national disgrace”. That’s not a messiah complex, that’s basic human decency. What’s odd is that, in parliament, the Labour leader stands out like a sore thumb for having it.

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