See this picture? Recognise the bloke in the white shirt? To accompany the photograph, he tweeted: “Terrific to see the fantastic work done by Nick and Ruth Dawson, and all the volunteers at Brite Box project. BRITE Boxes contain ingredients to cook a meal for 5, aiming to bring families together with food. They are distributed across Esher and Walton at local primary schools.” Terrific. Fantastic. Because without this project children would go without food. If you haven’t worked it out yet, that bloke is none other than the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, the terrific and fantastic Dominic Raab MP
Well, it’s great that there is someone who cares about child poverty because, apart from appearing in what appears to be a photo-opportunity, there’s little evidence that Raab actually does. He’s been a key part of this Conservative government for over 12 years now and, need I remind you, that before the Tories came to power there was no need for food banks. There were poor people, for sure, although under the last Labour government (1997-2010), the number fell dramatically. The Tories bang on constantly about growth. Well, the one area in which they have succeeded is the growth in food banks.
Food poverty – in fact, any kind of poverty – is surely unacceptable in a so-called civilised society, particularly in one as wealthy (oh yes it is) as this one, yet it is now rife, even in Tory areas like Esher and Walton. Instead of making himself out to be this warm and caring bloke, why doesn’t he do anything about it? Sadly, the fact that he is in his 13th year as an MP of the governing party shows he doesn’t want to.
I feel for the volunteers at Brite Box. Imagine giving your time up to help support those who would otherwise go hungry, only to be joined by one of the main people causing it? If Raab has an ounce of empathy and understanding, you would like to think he’d be in the House of Commons next Thursday, helping to vote down Jeremy Hunt and Rishi Sunak’s budget which will unquestionably make the poorest people even poorer. But he won’t. That’s why he’s a Tory. Hunger is someone else’s problem but if a charity can paper over some of society’s cracks, Raab is happy. It’s terrific, fantastic. If someone like Raab walked into the food bank I work at, if I didn’t walk out I’ll tell him exactly what i thought of him.
Lest we forget, charity exists in order to pay for the things society doesn’t regard as important enough to provide for by way of tax. So, it’s our fault, too. We put these people into office and we can put them out of it. I’d say the fact that children are going hungry is unacceptable, but then I am old fashioned and believe in society. Let’s make poverty history. All we need to do is to make Sunak’s Tories history.
