BRIDGEN OVER TROUBLED WATER
Who is Andrew Bridgen and what did he say about Jacob Rees Mogg’s Grenfell comments?
CONSERVATIVE backbench MP Andrew Bridgen has been forced to apologise after he attempted to defend Jacob Rees-Mogg’s comments about the Grenfell Tower fire victims.
The outspoken Tory apologised for causing “a great deal of distress and offence”. Here's what you need to know about the Tory Brexiteer.
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Who is Andrew Bridgen MP?
Born in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, on October 28, 1964, Bridgen was an entrepreneur before launching a career in politics.
Having graduated from the University of Nottingham with a degree in biological sciences he worked on his family’s market-gardening business and went on to form AB Produce in 1988.
He went on to become the East Midlands chairman of the Institute of Directors.
Bridgen stood for the Conservative candidate for North West Leicestershire in the 2010 General Election and became the first Tory MP for the area in 13 years; he was re-elected in 2015 and 2017.
He has positioned himself on the right of the party and has been a long-term critic of the European Union and a vocal supporter of Brexit, backing the pressure group Leave Means Leave.
Bridgen has been highly vocal in his criticism of both David Cameron and Theresa May.
Weeks before the EU referendum vote in 2016 he said Cameron’s position was untenable and would have to be replaced.
In July 2018 he wrote a letter of no confidence in relation to May.
Bridgen has also been a critic of the former Speaker John Bercow and in March 2018 he suggested Bercow should resign.
He married Serbian opera singer Nevena Pavlovic in 2017 having divorced his first wife Jackie in 2012.
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What did he say about Jacob Rees Mogg's comments on Grenfell?
Bridgen was forced to apologise after he tried to defend Jacob Rees-Mogg’s comments on the Grenfell Tower fire victims.
Rees-Mogg came under attack after saying on a radio show that the victims of the London fire in June 2017 should have used “common sense” to ignore the initial advice from the London Fire Brigade which had told them to stay where they were.
He later issued a “profound apology”.
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In an attempt to defend those comments Bridgen told BBC Radio 4’s PM show: "Jacob is a leader. He's an authority figure and what he has failed to realise is that in a life-threatening and stressful situation most people will 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.
"And as we know, in regards to Grenfell that advice was flawed."
When asked by Evan Davis if Mr Rees-Mogg was saying he wouldn't have died because he was "cleverer" than the people who took the fire brigade's advice, Mr Brigden replied: "But we want very clever people running the country, don't we Evan?"
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"And that is a bi-product of what Jacob is. And that is why he is in a position of authority.
"What he is actually saying is, he would have made a better decision than the authority figures who gave that advice."
Bridgen later took to Twitter to write: "I realise that what I said was wrong and caused a great deal of distress and offence.
"It was not my intention to do so, and I do not want to add in any way to the pain that this tragic event has caused. I apologise unreservedly."
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