Lee Anderson, Ashfield MP insists Jack Monroe has made a fortune on the backs of the poor.

[newnamethanks]

AIBU to hope for a libel trial as entertaining as Vardy v Rooney and an outcome that rivals the Katy Hopkins debacle?

[nokitchen]

The date of birth for companies house is wrong. She's definitely in her thirties

[SweetSakura]

It may well be a filing error or data entry error at companies House end

[Gingerkittykat]

Her company was struck off at the end of July which could explain the financial mess she is in right now.

From what I have heard the 1978 date is just a mistake and she really was born in 1988.

[Crikeyalmighty]

She's a strange one. I don't quite get why she doesn't get a nice part time job with a charity or something similar but keep the subscription membership and tone down the 'personal poverty' thing- would be a great second income and some of the tips are quite useful if you are struggling. What is missing in all this 'oh I've just been to Venice and now got a puppy' is a kind of authenticity. My son who is single earns around what she gets off subscriptions and probably paying similar rent and whilst it's quite tight for him mainly as he's on his own , he isn't exactly poor- he too has ADHD and can be impulsive. She does have something to offer but is damaging her brand by not being 100% authentic and telling a few porkies along the way

[Bnxybee]

I really supported her campaign to (re)expand value supermarket brands and as someone with an ADHD diagnosis, I do understand the impulse spends, etc.

That said, I do have questions. Where were her family and child’s father when he was begging for more bread and jam? Why did they let her do sex work?

I’m no fan of the tories but if you buy an expensive dog then can’t afford shower gel, that’s not down to government policies. I’ve made daft financial decisions so I do sympathise but I do think there’s elements of denial.

[SplatPancake]

“That said, I do have questions. Where were her family and child’s father when he was begging for more bread and jam? Why did they let her do sex work?”

They were all right there, @Bnxybee engaged and helping her. But this is where her timeline can only be charitably described as “unclear”. In various publications she has herself described her poverty as lasting for a only a few months or a couple of years (or 10 years), dependent on food banks for months for formula (although they’re not allowed to give this out, particularly for a 2.5year old), or only a few times. In a podcast with Sophie Ellis Bextor last year she described the actions of her parents as “the wrinkle in her story”. In the podcast she says she accompanied a friend once to a foodbank, saw a friend of her parents from their church volunteering there, and confessed all to her parents immediately before they found out from the friend. Her parents then turned up the same afternoon with bags of food. She claimed she was “too embarrassed to tell them”, preferring to let her child go cold and hungry? (You will doubtless be aware that she herself has provided different versions of this over the years, so 🤷‍♀️ )

Her parents foster children, and do not give the slightest impression that they would let their grandchild suffer in any way. So again 🤷‍♀️It really doesn’t stack up.

Her ex partner, the actual resident parent has been involved since pregnancy, with completely shared custody until she came back to Essex after the split with Allegra, when he became main carer as the boy got a school place in his town, not her’s. She thanks him here amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/dec/27/jack-monroe-motherhood-thank-you-brave-father

And I believe that her ex’s new partner appeared on a mumsnet thread some years ago decrying the way he’d been depicted in her tales (not sure the thread still exists as her threads have previously been zapped immediately…) and setting the record straight re custody, maintenance etc. She has always been a co-parent, not an “abandoned single mother” as she often paints herself…. His grandparents on his fathers side also seem to be very engaged.

Her timelines change so often and I think are deliberately obfuscated so that it is impossible to work out when it was even possible for her to take on “sex work” (a term which covers everything from chat lines to prostitution and beyond). I’m afraid I don’t believe she ever did this - and there’s no way such engaged parents and partner would stand by and let this happen. If she couldn’t sort out childcare for her fire service job, how could she sort it for a spot of light prostitution? (I don’t mean to be flippant, I know there’s a lot more to say about sex work in general…)

I think like with all her tales there’s perhaps a nugget of truth in parts of this, but it’s been exaggerated and twisted for impact so much that the truth is lost. And I think she really believes whatever version is the most current, thus all these big contradictory statements, using her own tweets and publications, that have caused such a splash over the past couple of days.

[Bnxybee]

She recently tweeted that she basically can’t lie due to her autism. She’s tweeted this before and I have an issue with that. It’s not true that autistic people don’t lie. It’s a lazy stereotype. Autistic people sometimes do lie, albeit not very well (a lot of the time), but the notion that autistic people never lie should stay in the eighties/nineties. (I have an autistic brother and have supported autistic adults professionally.) I would challenge her directly but she’s shut off her replies.

She seems to think any criticism aimed at her comes from the GC crowds and are thinly veiled transphobic attacks. She’s claimed to be the victim of horrific transphobic death threats but when asked for receipts, couldn’t provide any. She’s initiated pile ons but is very sensitive to any criticism herself.

She’s a wonderful writer and campaigner who has done some real good, but I take her claims with a large pinch of salt!

[LibrariesGiveUsPower]

@Dauncets

Poor people can't afford solicitors' fees for defamation cases.

This.

[Isitsixoclockalready]

@jgw1

I always like it when the Nasty Party forgets that is meant to be nice and shows its true colours.
And the bonus is that along come some supporters on here to confirm what they are like.

Yep. The Tories have made plenty for themselves and their friends.

[Isitsixoclockalready]

TBF this is a very typical Tory deflection technique.

[newnamethanks]

It certainly is sixoclock and, in the absence of any creative policy in a leadership campaign piling lie upon lie, what else have they got? If you're looking for lying grifters, Tory voters, you could start a lot closer to home.

[ermagerdabear]

@newnamethanks

It certainly is sixoclock and, in the absence of any creative policy in a leadership campaign piling lie upon lie, what else have they got? If you're looking for lying grifters, Tory voters, you could start a lot closer to home.

Or you could do both? The fact that the Tories are liars doesn't excuse or absolve the fact that Jack Monroe is also grifting for everything she's worth.

Interesting to note that this thread was started off the back of Jack gleefully tweeting that she was beginning legal proceedings against Lee Anderson and Laurence Fox, to the point where she actually asked her followers for donations to the cause through her personal PayPal account. And yet, so far, it's been tumbleweed...

[JohnsShirt]

I really don't think this is in the spirit...
Perhaps MN just innocently forgot to delete this one...

[yesitssea]

@JohnsShirt

I really don't think this is in the spirit...
Perhaps MN just innocently forgot to delete this one...

I don't see why it should be deleted. It's a fair commentary on a public figure.

I honestly think she gets away with murder.
Her stories have more holes than a colander

[ShrillSiren22]

I think this thread is in the spirit of Mumsnet. Someone in the public eye is convincing people, who are often in poverty themselves, that they need their donations when they are clearly very financially stable.

[yesitssea]

I wonder if the people who donated to this crowdfunded ever got their money back given she's not pursued it after asking for funding?

[IrmaGord]

@yesitssea

I wonder if the people who donated to this crowdfunded ever got their money back given she's not pursued it after asking for funding?

I'm guessing she wouldn't know exactly who donated what money for what purpose, unless they specifically asked her for a refund It was done via her PayPal account, not through a more 'traditional' crowdfunder page, so it all went into the 'Jack Monroe money for puppies/sideboards/hats/spoons' pot.

I think Martin Daubney also confirmed that he hadn't received any official communication relating to Jack suing them, for all her crowing about it.

[Thatlittleleaf]

Shady as fuck

[Florenz]

She's nothing more than a grifter.

[SweetSakura]

She vanished from Twitter after people started asking too many questions about her patreon/teemill money.
Well she claimed it was because people were mean about a photo of potatoes, but it was at exactly the same time as lots of questions were being asked

[KitBumbleB]

She recently claimed to take her big, expensive, hairy dog to a specialist groomer monthly and have regular check ups, thats gonna cost more than a 99p shower gel

[Crankley]

He's right.

[FamilyTreeBuilder]

Well clearly she's not not going to sue the MP, because what the MP said was true.

[JubileeTrifle]

About 3/4 years ago I realised there was something up with how she was acting. It was the constant contradictions and dramas that did it for me. There is a narc in the family and so much of her behaviour is the same. The constant need to be in the centre of everything and be very important, whilst also everyone feeling very sorry for them as everything is so very hard for them.

It’s more than obvious if you have followed her for a while she has enough money. That last blog she did about not being able to afford shampoo (whilst getting her haircut at Toni and Guy) is a disgrace.

[Thatlittleleaf]

There are so many contradictions. Keyboard warrior on Twitter but shaking like me on tv. Don’t get it.