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?

[Alltheprettyseahorses]

@notthisTimeMr

Because one person has lived through hardship and is giving helpful advice and the other is privileged and judgemental with no concept of what it’s like to struggle only contempt for those that are

Which one is that?

I see the fairy tales about Monroe are about. The ONS had already changed its calculations, the inflation sums were wrong and Asda cheap range was widely available in store (45p for 1kg of rice, I don't think it's ever been 15p for a kg and if it has then that's disgusting, the people in the production line can't have been getting paid, we had a massive fair trade campaign for a reason).

[NoSquirrels]

She didn't and never has, "walked the walk", though, and that's the whole point.
It's all lies.

Think you’re wrong about this. She may have had a grammar education and a background that’s not ‘conventional poor’ but I think you’re wrong she didn’t live through poverty with her young son.

[Luculentus]

@sst1234

Wow what a nasty woman pretending to be all kind. Hope this is shared and re shared. Awful people let their true colours show eventually.

Except it isn't an awful tweet about the death of David Cameron's son. It's a tweet about the way he was exploiting it, and she was by no means the only person who felt very, very uneasy about that.

[Clymene]

@NoSquirrels

She didn't and never has, "walked the walk", though, and that's the whole point.
It's all lies.

Think you’re wrong about this. She may have had a grammar education and a background that’s not ‘conventional poor’ but I think you’re wrong she didn’t live through poverty with her young son.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/dec/27/jack-monroe-motherhood-thank-you-brave-father

[NoSquirrels]

@Flavourflava

Presumably the poor should stay poor and be grateful?

I don't think people are saying that. I think it's more that she didn't grow up poor and was only poor for really quite a brief time a long time ago.

But again - are we really saying poverty is only poverty if you grow up poor and stay poor for a long time?

[Luculentus]

@KnitPurlKnitPurl

On what grounds? You can only sue for defamation or libel if you can prove that what is being said is factually untrue.

Think what you like about Ms Monroe - I'm not a fan. Think what you like about the Tory MP - ditto.

But from my understanding of the facts, there's no defamation here.

Not correct. In defamation, the burden is on the person making the alleged defamatory comment to prove that it was true, if that is what s/he is alleging. I suspect Anderson will struggle there.

[StaunchMomma]

Are people genuinely saying she has to stay poor in order to have an opinio0n on poverty?!

Seems like she's one of those people the right overwhelmingly hate, like Greta Thunberg or Jameela Jamil, purely because they don't like their politics.

[CapMarvel]

@sst1234

Are you seriously comparing Jamie Oliver the chef with Jack Monroe the…well, what exactly is her talent again?

No, if you bother to read my post properly I'm clearly not, at least in the way you seem to think I am.

[sst1234]

@Luculentus

Except it isn't an awful tweet about the death of David Cameron's son. It's a tweet about the way he was exploiting it, and she was by no means the only person who felt very, very uneasy about that.

No different to what she’s doing then? Why the allegations of libel when someone makes comment about her? Oh, it’s the ‘do as I say, not as I do’ virtue. A very predictable way for virtue signallers to operate.

[cakeorwine]

Except it isn't an awful tweet about the death of David Cameron's son. It's a tweet about the way he was exploiting it, and she was by no means the only person who felt very, very uneasy about that

Agree - Cameron at the time spoke a lot about the NHS as he underfunded it.

[StrawberryLipstickStateOfMind1]

@StaunchMomma

Are people genuinely saying she has to stay poor in order to have an opinio0n on poverty?!

Seems like she's one of those people the right overwhelmingly hate, like Greta Thunberg or Jameela Jamil, purely because they don't like their politics.

Stay poor?
She was never poor in the first place.

[AppleandRhubarbTart]

@MillicentFaucet

She was let go from a Sainsbury's promo a few years ago because of this awful tweet about the death of David Cameron's son

She was correct. Got met with a load of performative outrage from people who found that fact unpalatable, though.

[cakeorwine]

Mumsnet at the time

www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2243353-To-never-want-anyone-to-champion-Jack-Monroe-again

[RafaistheKingofClay]

@Snoozer11

I too belive there is a huge amount of dishonesty in Monroe's backstory.

Allegedly she used to have a well-paid job in the fire service that would have set her up for life.

I think she has done a lot of good, though.

I also think that many people are in dire straits because they either can't or won't budget, rely too much on luxuries and can't cook. Certainly not all, and we are all feeling the pinch - but if education helps even just a handful of food bank users then I am all for it.

With the reliance on ready meals and processed junk and very few learning to cook standard, healthy meals from scratch, we have seen an overwhelmingly negative impact on society and I think this is responsible for many of the issues we face today with fitness, health, obesity, poverty and the NHS.

I’m certain there was an old BBC program where they got chefs to try and make meals for the same price as value range ready meals. They couldn’t. That junk food is often cheaper than a healthy home cooked meal.

You are absolutely right that this leads to poor health outcomes, but the answer isn’t telling people they should be cooking using healthy recipes. It’a putting money in their pockets so they can. Lee Anderson is part of a government who has removed money from the pockets of the worst off families and is standing by doing nothing while the cost of living rises and people are being forced to rely on food banks.

Whether you like JM or not there is a huge difference between her doing everything in her power to help people put food in the table and Lee Anderson not doing everything in his power but pretending he is and putting the blame on people who are using food banks.

[AllotmentTime]

Yes but he’s using that as an excuse to say “they could do it so everyone should”. The fact that some people have survived shit circumstances is not a reason to say that everyone should put up with them, or be blamed if they can’t cope perfectly with them.

Jack’s back story might not stand up but at least she is actively trying to help. She might be making money doing it but she is trying to help. She might love the publicity but she is trying to help.

That’s the difference.

[NoSquirrels]

@Clymene

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/dec/27/jack-monroe-motherhood-thank-you-brave-father

I’ve read that, Clymene. Doesn’t say to me that she never lived in poverty with her son, though.

Says she had an ex - the boy’s father - who (presumably) looked after his son with his money and time as he could. Doesn’t mean she’s been secretly supported by a rich man for decades. Or that she wasn’t a single mother living on the breadline.

I said she’s hard to like. But I don’t think that makes her story less believable. If anything I think it makes it more believable- I’m sure there were times she mismanaged her life spectacularly and those unwise decisions led to the poverty she’s written about.

[Muppet2022]

@AllotmentTime

Why can she say it and he can’t…

Because she is drawing on personal experience of poverty to say “it’s shit, here are strategies that may help you”

Whereas he is looking down from a place of spectacular privilege to say “you’re doing it wrong and your poverty is your own fault”.

How people can’t see the difference between those two positions is astonishing to me.

This ^^

It's all about context. She's been there and is offering help, he hasn't and is offering unqualified advice.

[VioletLemon]

IMHO Not Melissa Monroe is a figment of her own imagination. An unlikeable bullshitter with a very middle class, private school education view of the world. Between living with wealthy famous chef and Tv producer partners she had a stint supporting herself. End of. That ain't poverty. Pay your tax.

[LittleBrenda]

She's been there and is offering help, he hasn't and is offering unqualified advice.

Has she?

Hasn't he?

[Clymene]

She is like the woman in the Pulp song Common People @NoSquirrels. She comes from a comfortably middle class background, she gets on very well with her family and co-parents amicably with her son's father. If she ever did live in poverty, it was her choice. She had plenty of people who would ensure thar she and her son would be well fed, clothed and housed.

As a pp said, it's cosplay. And as in the pulp song 'If she called her dad, she could stop it all'.

I would have a lot more respect for her if she'd actually come clean. She still says she's poor.

And why anyone is defending someone who DOESN'T PAY HER TAXES is beyond me.

Or is it only right wing people who we can attack for not paying tax?

[FitAt50]

So many horrible nasty people posting on here. Jack does all she can to help the poor and hungry and has really put presure on supermarkets to do more. We do have a terrible habit in this country of attacking the people at the bottom, whilst ignoring the millionaires who cause all these issues. SHAME ON YOU

[RedWingBoots]

@Clymene

She was never poor. The value ranges were never dropped. It's all just a massive grift.

You can ask about it on Twitter if you like but she'll just block you.

The value ranges were dropped as that's the supermarket I do my shopping at and guess what? Some of the items I buy are from value ranges.

[KnitPurlKnitPurl]

And I've just discovered that her name isn't even "Jack Monroe". Her name is Melissa Jayne Hadjicostas. And her Dad was awarded an MBE in 2007 for charity work.