Grenfell Survivors Demand Apology Over Jacob Rees-Mogg's "Insensitive" Comments
5 November 2019, 07:39
A man who lost five relatives in the Grenfell Tower fire has demanded that Jacob Rees-Mogg says sorry for "insensitive" comments he made about the tragedy.
Speaking on his LBC phone-in yesterday, the Leader of the House of Commons said that it was common sense not to obey the fire brigade's 'stay put' instructions during the fire.
He told Nick Ferrari: "The more one’s read over the weekend about the report and about the chances of people surviving, if you just ignore what you’re told and leave you are so much safer.
"And I think if either of us were in a fire, whatever the fire brigade said, we would leave the burning building. It just seems the common sense thing to do. And it is such a tragedy that that didn’t happen."
Ahmed Chellat lost five members of his family in the tragedy and demanded the Conservative MP apologises.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror, he said: "He has got to apologise. Who is going to challenge this man over saying this? What common sense is he talking about?
"People died on the stairs trying to leave, they couldn’t breathe. People needed help and directions, they tried to open doors and there was smoke everywhere. What is he talking about?
"How is he coming to this insensitive conclusion? He talks about the cladding and the infrastructure - that’s fair comment.
"The firemen were not aware of how bad this fire was and what the building was made up of, the emergency callers weren’t aware, so people took instructions. This is the reality of it - he wasn’t there."
