The Conversation (0)
Politics
Joel Beard
May 16, 2023
Ann Widdecombe advises hungry families not to eat cheese sandwiches
content.jwplatform.com
We’re sure struggling families don’t need advice from former Tory politician and Strictly Come Dancing contestant Ann Widdecombe right now, but if they happened to tune in to the BBC’s Politics Live programme on Tuesday, then we’re afraid they would have gotten it anyway.
The commentator, who is now a member of Nigel Farage and Richard Tice’s Reform UK party (previously known as The Brexit Party), appeared on the BBC Two show – helmed by Jo Coburn – alongside Tory Ben Bradley, Labour’s Thangam Debbonaire and The New Statesman’s Rachel Cunliffe.
As the conversation turned to the ongoing cost of living crisis, Coburn asked Widdecombe: “What do you say to those viewers who literally can’t afford to pay even for some of the basics – if they’ve gone up the way that cheese sandwich has, with all its ingredients?”
“Well, then you don’t do the cheese sandwich,” Widdecombe replied.
Cunliffe didn’t agree with her fellow panellist’s stance, and quickly chipped in: “We’re talking about absolute basics and staples. We’re talking about own-brand pasta, we’re talking about bread, we’re talking about families who can’t afford to feed their children.
“There’s a story about mothers who can’t afford formula milk so their babies are literally starving.”
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Widdecombe continued: “We’ve been decades now without inflation. We have come to regard it as some sort of given right.”
She also insisted the poorest families “are being helped” during the current crisis.
The TV personality has since been branded a “retired attention-seeker” following her remarks:
\u201c@Haggis_UK @StevePeers Grief \u2026 Widdecombe\u2019s answer \u2026 at first sounds quite funny and then you realise that is how some right wing including current Tories likely think, which is pretty terrifying.\u201d— Haggis_UK \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa (@Haggis_UK \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa) 1684238963
\u201c@Haggis_UK Wouldn't be surprised if their strategy for ending food poverty is "well soon there won't be anyone left to be hungry"\u201d— Haggis_UK \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa (@Haggis_UK \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa) 1684238963
\u201c@Haggis_UK Ok, turning the clock back to the time of Dickens, nice to know their aims...\u201d— Haggis_UK \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa (@Haggis_UK \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa) 1684238963
\u201c@Haggis_UK Why is someone from the Reform Party even invited onto a program like this?\u201d— Haggis_UK \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa (@Haggis_UK \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa) 1684238963
\u201c@Haggis_UK I really can't believe she said that on @BBCPolitics and the chair stayed silent.\n\nWow, BBC - just wow.\u201d— Haggis_UK \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa (@Haggis_UK \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa) 1684238963
\u201c@Haggis_UK @WEBylines What I would say to @Jo_Coburn is \u201cdon\u2019t have the Ann Widdecombe\u201d. \n\nHonestly, she is neither use nor ornament. These are serious times which demand serious politicians, not retired attention-seekers, stirring division. \n\nBe better.\u201d— Haggis_UK \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa (@Haggis_UK \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa) 1684238963
\u201c@Haggis_UK Widdecombe has no place anywhere near public office.\u201d— Haggis_UK \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa (@Haggis_UK \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa) 1684238963
\u201c@Haggis_UK She\u2019s all heart\u2026sorry hate, she\u2019s all hate\u201d— Haggis_UK \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa (@Haggis_UK \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa) 1684238963
\u201cWiddecombe saying it\u2019s not a god-given right to be able to afford to eat. I didn\u2019t realize I was capable of such hatred.\u201d— Jay (@Jay) 1684243657
And if she’s not providing insensitive ‘advice’ to starving families, then Widdecombe’s been offering up bizarre and shocking comparisons – previously coming under fire for comparing a no-deal Brexit to the Second World War and comparing coronavirus to the Aids epidemic.
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