Tory Mp Irish famine

[Barill22]

Andrew Griffith is al over the news for appearing to make a derogoratory remark about the Irish famine.

Any thoughts? I cant seem to link an article, but if you google his name youll see it

From the BBC
*A senior Conservative MP has denied mocking the Irish famine during a debate in the House of Commons.
Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith was accused of making an "offensive" remark about the famine when he addressed the chamber on Wednesday.
More than one million people died during the famine in Ireland between 1845 and 1852 after the potato crop failed.
Responding to a question in the Commons, the shadow secretary said he was not sure if a person could "subsist entirely on a seed potato", before adding: "It may have been tried historically and not with enormous success".

Labour MP Adam Jogee challenged the remark in a point of order in the Commons on Thursday which he said appeared to reference the Irish potato famine.
But in a statement to BBC News NI, Andrew Griffith said he made "no reference to Ireland whatsoever" and "if you read the debate, you would see that is clearly the case".
He added: "At no point was Mr Jogee in the chamber to represent his own constituents or to hear my remarks in context."
The shadow secretary was responding to a question from a Liberal Democrat MP about getting Scottish seed potatoes into the European market when he made the remark.

When his reply was quoted in the chamber by Mr Jogee, one MP could be heard saying "shocking".
The Labour MP, who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on Ireland, asked the commons deputy Speaker how best to "remedy any offence".
"These words appear to be referencing the tragedy of the Irish potato famine, which, if true, is of course offensive and insensitive and would have taken place in the United Kingdom," he said.
The deputy speaker said the chair was not responsible for the shadow secretary of state's remarks.*

What else could he possibly have been referring to?

What a wankerish remark. Mass starvation is always good for a laugh, clearly, and as for the perennial hoot that is the potato? Rolling in the aisles.

There was loads of food grown in Ireland during the 1840s so it wasn't a famine. The people had no access to it so when their own potato crop failed they were starved whilst huge amounts of food were exported.

"It may have have been tried historically and not with enormous success"

Is definitely a flippant remark to make about one million people starving to death.

He may have been attemptinf to try to make a comment using a historical reference ,....but it sounds nasty.

This perhaps.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170224-what-food-would-keep-you-alive-the-longest

I think you would have to read the whole debate on Hansard to make sense of it.

Exactly, the famine in Ireland was caused by the English aristocrats at the time.

They took all the food and exported it, while people were starving.

Thats why its nasty for an English MP to say a flippant comment like that.

His comment is all over social media

What was the context exactly?

Anti Irish sentiment is deep, just waiting to surface. The cartoons published in Punch and the like are interesting to see. Of course there was no racism back then.

Also, for anyone wanting to understand the Great Hunger there is a really good In Our Time Podcast available. It really extended (and challenged) my understanding of what happened.

This feels like a stretch, the professionally offended choosing to take offence because he's a "Tooooorrrrrry" and therefore evil.

@NotDavidTennant
The shadow secretary was responding to a question from a Liberal Democrat MP about getting Scottish seed potatoes into the European market when he made the remark.

The labour MP referring to it as the Irish Potato famine is also being offensive, as is the BBC by stating the famine occurred due to the potato crop failing.

Yes, the potato crop failed. However, there was more than enough food grown in the country to feed everyone but it was being exported. The reason Irish people were so reliant on the potato was due to British policy, including the effects of the penal laws. In other European countries, such as France and Belgium, the effects of the blight were significantly less due to government policies there.

As an aside, the Irish "peasants" were amongst the healthiest "peasants" in europe due to the diet of potatoes and butter milk.

Sorry I've reported my repeated post

@Notmycircusnotmyotter
I think your comment is outrageous. Over 1 million people died of starvation.

Empire podcast have recently done a mini series on Irish independence and the troubles, I highly recommend it. God we were awful.

The Irish peasants (pre the Great Hunger) were the healthiest in Europe. A small peice of land could grow enough potatoes to feed a (large) family supplemented by small amounts of meat, dairy and other foods.

So actuallly, if you had to pick one food, potatoes are a good choice. Plus, they are delciousl

Confused about the context of seed potatoes. Did Irish peasants eat the seed potatoes instead of planting them? (Understandable if they did..)

I don't think any British/Irish (rule/empire) history is taught in UK schools. Therefore few British have any idea of the historical outrages that happened to Ireland under British rule.

But things have moved on for the most part. The Good Friday Agreement was a masterpiece. IMV.

Yes the English aristocrats stole irish peoples land.

Then they stole all of the food, until a million people starved to death.

Even if he said it clumsily, it was a stupid thing to say. We dont want to worsen relations between the UK and Ireland

His comment is all over instagram and tiktok

ooc, why the peasants in quotes? I don't think its a derogatory term, just factual.

Is none taught at all? Thats a bit strange

German children learn about what germany did to other countries, for example.

But why was he talking about people eating seed potatoes?

Fairly sure they rotted away too.