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AIBU?

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Original poster

Rees Mogg uses common sense to flee burning building.

396 replies

longwayoff · 05/11/2019 10:55

Or, he would, if he were to find himself in that situation. Having previously insulted the medical knowledge and expertise of a leading neurologist, he now advises ignoring fire service advice, saying those who died in Grenfell lacked common sense and should have left the building. AIBU to say this man's ignorance is an embarrassment and he is unfit for public service?

OP posts:
EntropyRising · 05/11/2019 15:01

He obviously meant that it's tragic that the advice seemed to contravene common sense.

Nothing he said about Grenfell was ever going to end well.

DorisDaysDadsDogsDead · 05/11/2019 15:03

Grease-Smug would never have anything to do with common sense.

He would only use rarefied, old-Etonian, elite sense...

Amanduh · 05/11/2019 15:09

But he didn’t say that did he. 99% of the comments on this thread are actually to do with what he said or the context. He praised the firefighters. He said that the only thing that caused this teagedy was the cladding. He wasn’t politicizing. He didn’t make it about himself. He didn’t victim blame. Literally most of these replies are without having wven heard the interview. There’s a lot I can disagree with the man on, but most of this is a response to things that literally were not said.

Cinammoncake · 05/11/2019 15:11

He obviously meant that it's tragic that the advice seemed to contravene common sense.

Did he? He seemed to me to be saying he being a superior person, would have and that to not do so lacked common sense. It gives the impression that they the plebs, are not people like him
The problem is, a lot of people think that he does in fact see the 'little people' as lesser.

Doesn't reflect will on him or the Tory party does it.

Cinammoncake · 05/11/2019 15:12

Literally most of these replies are without having wven heard the interview.

Hmm I've heard the interview. Not sure where you're getting your stats on this

MeTheCoolOne · 05/11/2019 15:13

OP Rees Mogg apologists; he's apologised to Dr Nichol and apologised for his crass statement yesterday. Have a word with him, you obviously know far more about him than he does himself.

Apart from the poster saying that JRM is a 'decent man'. I don't see any JRM apologists on this thread. A few of us have pointed out what you said he said and what he actually said were two different things. That's not apologising for him. That's jut correcting a mistake. I can't stand the man personally but I think it belittles any real objections people have about him to embellish things or make things up.

What he actually said was stupid (I said that in my original post) and if I were him I'd have apologised too.

CalamityJune · 05/11/2019 15:20

I think it shows a lack of insight from JRM into what happened. Residents were being told by the call handlers that firefighters were en route to them. They expected them to burst in and help them escape through the smoke at any moment. Had they been told sooner and more directly that nobody was coming and they needed to go, no matter how bad the smoke or they would certainly die then more people may have survived.

"Common sense" as JRM put would usually dictate that you follow emergency services advice. Sadly there were so many things that went wrong that night that it was impossible for them to know what to do for the best.

SchadenfiendeUnmortified · 05/11/2019 15:21

The whole report and those remarks blaming the people and the Fire Brigade are clearly meant as a diversion from the fact that the building wasn’t safe

Exactly! If the building specs were appropriate, the conflagration would never have happened. If there were suitable fire escapes people would not have been trapped.

Can anyone seriously say that they would have tried to escape from an upper floor, in the dark, in the smoke, among other panic-stricken people and with 3 or 4 children in tow? Or a very elderly relative? The stairway would quickly have become blocked as people tripped and fell; they would have crushed each other and the vulnerable would have died dreadfully anyway. This is the fault of the architects, the builders, and of the politicians who allowed blocks like this to be built in the first place.

he's a cunt - as someone else once said "he lacks the warmth and depth"

PettyContractor · 05/11/2019 15:27

I've just seen this item on the news, where they played the recording of what he said. He did not say what the OP claims. The OP is spreading an untrue smear.

He has apologised presumably as damage limitation, knowing he has no chance of getting the untruth corrected.

SchadenfiendeUnmortified · 05/11/2019 15:33

If he wasn't such a sleaze, Contractor, people wouldn't be so quick to suspect the worst of him.

CalamityJune · 05/11/2019 15:36

@SchadenfiendeUnmortified but some parts of the LFB did have a role in it that can't be ignored. The faiings of the building managers is clear and will be more forensically examined in phase 2. I don't believe that they will be off the hook in any way.

Some people were not truly trapped when they first called and LFB policies dictate that callers should be supported to fully exhaust all of their options for escape before finally moving onto survivial guidance such as blocking doors with towels etc. Some callers were not helped to explore their options and could have escaped, albeit in challenging circumstances particularly before 2.00am.

Info was also not being passed between the call centre and the command centre on the ground, which meant that for too long fire fighters were convinced that the fire was only external in the cladding and had not got into more flats than the initial origin. Hence the "stay put" policy remaining in place for longer than it should.

I don't recall reading anywhere that there was any criticism for the firefighters going into the building and rescuing people or trying to extringuish the fire, but some of their own policies were not followed and may have made a difference if they were.

Maverick66 · 05/11/2019 15:42

@MaxNormal sums him up nicely

Original poster
longwayoff · 05/11/2019 15:54

@PettyContractor if that's the case he can sue me.

OP posts:
frankie001 · 05/11/2019 16:06

I lost somebody in the fire. I know that they called for help and was advised to stay put as help was coming. I may have done the same in that situation but I don’t know. Can only hope there is never a Grenfell again.

Campurp · 05/11/2019 16:54

He’s an idiot... but that’s not going to stop the lovely public voting him and his cronies back into power. The UK is in a sort of abusive relationship with the Tories and cannot see it!

Helmetbymidnight · 05/11/2019 17:10

leading brexiteer sneers at working class people shock!

anyone who's watched the careers of jrm, boris and farage isnt going to be surprised by this, are they?

LizzieSiddal · 05/11/2019 17:27

A conservative MP has just been on Radio 4 PM programme saying that RM is a very intelligent man who would have survived that fire as he would have used his intelligence to leave the building. He then went on to say that w RM is more intelligent than most people, including those who make the rules in organisations such as the fire Brigade, and that's why he's in the govt.

I cannot believe what I've just heard!

LizzieSiddal · 05/11/2019 17:28

Andrew Bridgen was the MP.

nevergotthehangofthursdays · 05/11/2019 17:35

Rees-Mogg has common sense??????

FudgeBrownie2019 · 05/11/2019 17:35

JRM is a dangerous arsehole. The 'gaffe' wasn't accidental. Absolutely not accidental. Nothing that comes from his vile mouth is an accident.

I have no doubt he's smart. Smart doesn't equal morally-sound though, and the man is disgusting on every level. I heard the interview and his words were insulting, ridiculous and downright obscene. I can only hope that if his home burns down the fire brigade sends a noddy car and shouts instructions like "shake your arse out the window whilst singing Whigfield's Saturday Night, it's common sense" through an Early Learning Centre megaphone.

Iggly · 05/11/2019 17:36

At the end of the day, if that block of flats didn’t have cheap and nasty cladding on it, these people wouldn’t have died.

EntropyRising · 05/11/2019 17:37

A conservative MP has just been on Radio 4 PM programme saying that RM is a very intelligent man who would have survived that fire as he would have used his intelligence to leave the building. He then went on to say that w RM is more intelligent than most people, including those who make the rules in organisations such as the fire Brigade, and that's why he's in the govt.

That's not what he said.

Conservative Andrew Bridgen describes Jacob Rees-Mogg as "an intelligent and compassionate man", but says his comments regarding Grenfell Tower were "uncharacteristically clumsy".

"I think you have to put them into the context of Jacob - Jacob is a leader, he's an authority figure.

"And what he's failed to realise is that in a life-threatening and stressful situation, most people would probably defer to the advice of an authority figure, be that someone from the fire authority or the police, and not come to their own conclusions."

LizzieSiddal · 05/11/2019 18:12

EntropyRising

What the heck are you on about?

It was quite a lengthy interview and he did say what I’ve stated.

He also said what you’ve quoted but that wasn’t what I was commenting on.

VeryQuaintIrene · 05/11/2019 18:20

He is an utter wanker and I am aghast that 11% of voters here apparently side with him.

Moonmelodies · 05/11/2019 18:20

*Rees Mogg would never be in a building with unsafe cladding, because they wouldn't be penny pinching around a building where rich people live.

Too true, @MrsMaiselsMuff, have a look at his gaff

mogg.wikia.org/wiki/Gournay_Court

English Heritage would (rightly) have something to say about it if he wanted to cover his house in highly flammable plastic.*

Whilst it may not have the cladding, I bet his house doesn't come anywhere close to current fire regulations.