Monday, June 19, 2017

Tory MP uses Grenfell Tower debate to attack firefighters' union

[Later. The BBC kindly tweeted a clip of this exchange, so I have now embedded it above.]

Those watching the East Midland segment of Sunday Politics yesterday lunchtime will have seen a debate on the lessons of Grenfell Tower between Heather Wheeler (Conservative MP for South Derbyshire) and Toby Perkins (Labour MP for Chesterfield).

When Perkins suggested that the disaster has something to do with cuts to local authority spending Wheeler was outraged.

And when Perkins started to quote figures from the Fire Brigades Union, we were treated to this outburst:
"Well they would. The word is in the clue (sic) 'union', mate. That's the clue."
Note that Wheeler was so angry at the mention of the firefighters' union that she could not get her words in the right order.

To use the aftermath of Grenfell Tower as the occasion for an attack on the firefighters' union is outrageous and Wheeler should apologise.

You can watch the exchange yourself on the BBC iPlayer. The discussion on Grenfell Tower begins at 40:45.

To end on a more sweet-smelling note, here is how the residents of the area around Grenfell Tower treat their firefighters.

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