Oh dear. Andrew Bridgen is a friend of Jacob Rees-Mogg, but it’s unlikely the Tory MP will be thanking his colleague for his latest intervention.
Bridgen attempted to defend his chum on BBC’s PM programme just now following a furious reaction to Rees-Mogg’s comments about the Grenfell fire tragedy.
Bridgen said that Rees-Mogg’s remarks were ‘uncharacteristically clumsy’. He was then asked:
Evan Davis: ‘Do you think he meant to say that he thought he would not have stayed put?’
Andrew Bridgen: ‘That’s what he meant to say. That’s what he meant to say.’
ED: ‘But in a way that is exactly what people object to, because he is, in effect, saying: I wouldn’t have died because I would have been cleverer than the people who took the fire brigade’s advice.’
AB: (pause) ‘But we want very clever people running the country, don’t we, Evan? That’s a by-product of what Jacob is.’
With friends like these, who needs enemies?
Britain’s best politics newsletters
You get two free articles each week when you sign up to The Spectator’s emails.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate, free for a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first month free.
UNLOCK ACCESS Try a month freeAlready a subscriber? Log in