More about Tory MP and veterans minister Johnny Mercer who yesterday lost his shit at being held to account on his promise of ending homelessness among former armed services personnel. On his watch, homelessness wasn’t ended: it went up by 14%. Anyway, the short-tempered Mercer appears to have made a strategic error crossing Carol Vorderman, that rare species who has quit a successful and lucrative media career in order to join, and indeed lead, a campaign to help rid us of this awful government. Instead of cowering in the face of Mercer’s confected anger, she has drilled much deeper and uncovered more awkward information about this gobby toad.
Here is an important segment of the interview Mercer did with Sky’s excellent Kay Burley:
I accept, of course, that Burley’s first question has a two-pronged answer. There should be no need for military personnel, past or present, to be using food banks. The very idea that those who keep us safe, or formerly kept us safe, should be going hungry is an anathema to me, and I hope you. But Mercer, the former military man and self-styled protector of veterans dodges the metaphorical bullets. “Look,” he toots. These are personal decisions about how people are budgeting every month.” That old chestnut again, the Tory view that people are only in food poverty because they can’t budget properly. If you think that’s true, then I’m afraid I can’t help you anymore. You probably need to read the Mail, Express, Sun and Telegraph to get the real disinformation. For those who are still with me – and thanks for that – Burley then states what is to me a simple fact, that “people don’t choose to use food banks, do they? They are using them because they don’t have any other alternative.” But hard man Mercer keeps digging. “Well, in my experience, Kay, that is not correct.”
I don’t know what Mercer’s experience is and for all I know he’s at his local food bank every week insulting hungry and desperate people, haranguing them about not being able to budget properly with the money they don’t have. As evil Cruella Braverman said, being homeless is “a lifestyle choice“, as is, presumably, being unable to eat. Former soldier Big Hard Johnny doesn’t appear to be suffering from similar levels of poverty.
In addition to his MP salary of £86,584, Mercer as a little sideline. In his declaration to the House of Commons, he writes: “I receive £1,000 a week, paid monthly, for providing advice on UK Armed Forces veteran talent. Hours: eight per week.” That’s an hourly rate of £125 – nice work if you can get it. But there’s more. In 2017, MPs were forbidden from employing family members to work on their behalf but this doesn’t seem to bother the great man because his secretary is one Felicity Cornelius-Mercer, a qualified lifeguard and a “crewing supervisor” with MK airlines, until they went bust in 2008. She trousers somewhere between £40,000 and £45,000, her salary having tripled since 2015. Again, nice work if you can get it. Between them, they “earn” circa £180,000 a year.
I guess that means that the Mercers are not needing to make “personal decisions about how (they) are budgeting every month“, other than decide whether to visit Fortnum and Mason or Harrods.
I have no issue with anyone who has lots of money, particularly when they have worked hard and played by the rules to accrue it and that they never forget there are others who have not been so successful in life. Or lucky enough have to have a nice little eight hour a week sideline that pays £125 an hour and then pay your own wife a tidy big wedge for being your secretary.
Keep digging, Macho Man Johnny Boy, because you’re showing us who and what you are, yet another here today, gone tomorrow (or at the next election, hopefully) in it for the money politician. If he’s angry now, imagine how angry he’d be if he had no money and no food to eat?
PS. And this:
