A survivor of the Grenfell tower disaster has called MP Andrew Bridgen’s defence of Jacob Rees-Mogg’s comments about the fire more offensive than what Rees-Mogg originally said.
Bridgen told the BBC that Rees-Mogg probably would have survived the fire because he is ‘clever’.After Rees-Mogg said that the victims of the fire lacked ‘common sense’ by following official fire service instructions, Bridgens went on to say: “[Rees-Mogg] would have made a better decision than the authority figures who gave that advice.
22-year-old Tiago Alves, who escaped the 2017 blaze with his family from their 13th floor flat, was speaking to Tom Swarbrick on LBC radio when he said these comments were suggesting “the people in the tower were not clever people”.
READ MORE: ‘You need to resign’: Stormzy calls Rees-Mogg ‘scumbag’ for Grenfell commentsAlves said: “I know a lot of the people who passed away – they were my friends and my neighbours. For Andrew Bridgen to come out and say something like this without having met any of the grieving survivors, he’s basically admitting that Jacob Rees-Mogg was saying that the people of Grenfell were not clever.
“Sometimes it feels like these Conservative MPs are so far removed.”
“Jacob Rees-Mogg has apologised. I think that Andrew Bridgen should apologise too.”
On Wednesday Bridgen did apologise for his comments, saying he regretted causing “a great deal of distress and offence”.
He said: “I realise that what I said was wrong and caused a great deal of distress and offence. It was not my intention to do so, and I do not want to add in any way to the pain that this tragic event has caused. I apologise unreservedly.”
Most popular
Alastair Campbell’s Diary: Disappointing Greta Thunberg and a night out with the Kinnocks
Mandrake: Facing the fury of Nadine Dorries
