Rees-Mogg tells LBC that Grenfell residents should have ignored instructions to stay put: “If either of us were in a fire… we would leave the burning building”
Grenfell survivors and bereaved families have reacted angrily to Tory front-bencher Jacob Rees-Mogg’s suggestion that those who died in the 2017 blaze would have left the building if they had had ‘common sense’, in spite of instructions to stay in their flats in accordance with procedure at the time.
Rees-Mogg compounded the offence by telling radio host Nick Ferrari that both of them would have left, regardless of fire brigade instructions:
The MP does not appear to have apologised so far. He only responds to enquiries by post.
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Was he asked about boris the mayor and his part in the tragedy,
God save us from these cheap and nasty Tory party posh pratts
Sacked firemen and women, closed fire stations, denied resources and training
Then when he was challenged by a Labour councillor, told them to get stuffed
Jacob Rees Mogg millionaire disaster master what first attracted you to No Deal
FFS
That guy is an A-hole.
Grenfell is starting to resemble Hillsbrough, just waiting for Johnson to say all the residents were drunk and caused there own problems, both disasters caused by Council and Government respectively with the cheap (unfit for purpose) cladding and the dangerous Pens imposed on fans that didn’t allow lateral movement and no escape at the front, both on reflection being death traps, The disgusting aspect of it all is the blame game jumped on by our so called leaders blaming anyone but those responsable, 26 years it took after the slanderous attacks on Fans to clear their names I wonder if the same is about to happen to those who died at Grenfell.
“If either of us were in a fire… we would leave the burning building”
I’m sure we can all picture it.
Reet Smunt screaming like a little girl, pushing and trampling the old, the slow, the disabled, the young and the poor to grab the first ambulance to Harley Street for his pinkie blister to be attended to by the most highly-qualified professionals.
“Why should we pay for a national health service when we have Harley Street?”
I am amazed that he bothers to wear a poppy. I would imagine that he thinks that those who gave their lives were devoid of “common sense” as well and got themselves killed.
Like all Tories the man has no empathy with others they are bunch of bloody sociopaths
Indeed.
rees-smog is of the mindset that women that give birth to disabled children only do it to claim disability benefits.
Pensioners who are in fuel poverty should’ve saved their pittance when working; instead of ‘blowing it’ on fags & beer & bingo.
He absolutely deserves the ‘dickensian throwback’ moniker. I had it my way I’d send him back there.
Much though I hate to agree with Rees-Mogg, I’m pretty sure I’d leg it, too. To be fair, wouldn’t most people? Wouldn’t a primal “flee” response kick in PDQ?
Mate when you are told to stay where you are by professional firefighters for your own safety, you do, those firemen used their knowledge of fires to try and help, sadly they were let down by a council who erected not fit for porpose cladding. it was an avoidable disaster but those firefighters working without knowledge of the dangerous situation they had been put in get the blame and now the dead are beeing villified for following orders. sometimes you just have to say those that run our councils and our government are evil c*****
In multi story flats each flat is “compartmentalised” to contain the fire within itself.In those circumstances it is safer to stay put than try to descend a smoke filled stairwell.,
In Grenfell the fire did not spread internally from one flat to the other. The building burned from the outside in because of the flamable cladding.
I believe that those responsible for putting external flamable cladding on a multi storey block should be charged with manslaughter.Additionally some people who could not walk easily or at all were housed above ground floor level. In a fire you should not use lifts so these people had no way of getting out This is very bad housing management caused by the chronic housing shortage,
Neither the tenants nor the fire fighters ( who showed real bravery and compassion) were to blame. A Tory government and a Tory council were but in typical Tory fashion they are attempting to blame the victims and the fire service.
I hope one of the first things a Labour Government does is ensure justice for the Grenfell victims and full support for the survivors and makes awards for bravery to every firefighter on duty that awful night.
If people are told that by not obeying the “stay put” instruction they’ll interfere with the firefighters – ie get in their way and put them in greater danger by forcing them to rescue evacuees when they start choking – most will probably stay put rather than be thought cowardly and selfish.
It’s a serious matter to disobey the emergency services and I think most people won’t do it however afraid they are – which is why I’ve said before that I believe the senior officer on scene shared some part of the blame for not ordering evacuation when the fire was so obviously out of control and spreading fast.
The fact that the fire was so shockingly unprecedented, together with the institutional faith in the “stay put” doctrine, explain and in my opinion excuse the officer’s failure to order evacuation.
For the lesson to be learned though, officers of that grade need retraining, which I hope will have happened already.
Those delegated to reverse the “stay put” instruction when appropriate must be in no doubt about their responsibilities.
Those whose greed for profit caused the catastrophe are the ones who need to be held to account, not the fire service.
I would suggest, that if you were actually confronted with such a dilemma, you have absolutely no idea what you would do.
Hindsight is always 20/20
I actually live in a tower block and have played the scenario through in my mind quite a few times, though, I must admit, I only live on the 2nd floor out of 10. Rather than, say, the 20th floor out of 24 or whatever it was. I really should invest in a rope ladder.
I’m also averse to authority figures, so would probably think “fuck that, I’m hauling arse”.
Jacob Rees Mogg has blamed the people who died in Grenfell for the tragedy by saying in effect that they died because of their own stupidity – their lack of common sense. Apparently he has apologised . However no apology can disguise his utter contempt for the working class and mostly BAME victims of this tragedy.It may even be that the social class and racial heritage of the victims are the reason for his contempt.
Shame on him.
One hopes this damages ( even further) the reputation of this foul government. And that this is reflected on 12th December
Perhaps the Tories nationally and locally in the Grenfell Borough should have shown common sense by not being Neo-Liberal ideologues in encouraging nationally and pursuing locally cheap cladding instead of the more expensive but SAFE option!
The Tories and their dogma are the real culprits! Lock ’em up! Lock ’em up!
JC4PM!
JC4PM!
Yes the Neo-Liberal Tories know the price of everything and the value of nothing!