Commons leader avoids responding to calls to resign as Tory allies rally round
(J)acob Rees- Mogg is never normally one to shy away from the media lens. Butfollowing his claim that it would have been “common sense”to ignore fire brigade advice and flee the Grenfell tower block fire – a statement that prompted outrage – he went uncharacteristically quiet after apologizing.
The rapper Stormzyadded to the condemnationand calls for Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, to resign following his comments on Monday about the west London fire in (in which) people died .
As the general election campaign kicked off following the dissolution of parliament, the Tory minister kept a low profile on Wednesday.
At his £ 5.6m townhouse in Westminster, which once served as a political HQ for Lord Ashcroft, a big donor to the Conservatives, a camera crew had been waiting since the morning to no avail. The property had visible posters in a fourth-floor window bearing “Leave means leave” and “No deal? No problem ”slogans. A blue Conservative placard was prominently displayed in a downstairs window. When the Guardian knocked on the door, a woman who answeredsuggested Rees-Mogg was not in.
The politician spoke in the Commons on Tuesday evening for nine minutes to close a valedictory debate, but rumors had since swirled that he could have left for his constituency in north-east Somerset, where he defends a comfortable 10, 000 majority.
Hours earlier on Tuesday, he had issued an apology for his comments about Grenfell residents, saying: “What I meant to say is that I would have also listened to the fire brigade’s advice to stay and wait at the time. However, with what we know now and with hindsight I wouldn’t, and I don’t think anyone else would. ”
A call to his office in Somerset on Wednesday brought a response from an answerphone message proudly declaring callers had reached Rees-Mogg’s election campaign HQ.
Undeterred, the Guardian waited at Rees-Mogg’s house. A short while later, a white cab crawled up outside the property and out of the house walked the prospective MP.
With characteristic politeness, he said: “Hello there, nice to see you.” But when asked if he would bow to Stormzy’s call for him to resign, he smiled as he got into the taxi, and simply said: “Thank you so much.”
Matters had worsened for him when the prospective Tory MP Andrew Bridgen clumsily defended Rees-Mogg’s Grenfell tower comments by suggesting the leader of the House was cleverer than the fire service chiefs who had ordered the property’s residents to stay put.
“What [Rees-Mogg] is actually saying is that he would have made a better decision than the authority figures who gave that advice,” Bridgen told Evan Davis, the presenter of BBC Radio 4’s PM program.
Asked by Davis if Rees-Mogg was implying that he was cleverer than most people, Bridgen replied: “But we want very clever people running the country, don’t we, Evan? That is a byproduct of what Jacob is and that is why he is in a position of authority. ”
Fast forward to Wednesday morning at 6. 13 am, and Bridgen too was apologizing. He tweeted: “I realize 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. ”
Andrew Bridgen(@ ABridgen)
I realize 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.
The Conservative party chairman,James Cleverly, also weighed in, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today program: “Jacob recognises that what he said was wrong and caused a huge amount of hurt and distress. He has apologized unreservedly and I do think that is the right thing for him to do. ”
With no further sign of Rees-Mogg on Wednesday afternoon, perhaps Conservative party campaign chiefs have also decided the right thing for him to do now is keep his head down.
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