Today’s attack on poverty food writer and single mum Jack Monroe showcases how threatened the Conservatives are by anyone with a platform to tell their own experiences of austerity.
But while Priti Patel MP attempts use the Daily Mail to smear Monroe as some kind of fake, Mirror political editor Jason Beattie reminds us that she actually addressed a fringe event in Manchester this year:
Tories might want to remember @MsJackMonroe was cheered at a Conservative conference fringe event this year.
— Jason Beattie (@JBeattieMirror) October 31, 2013
But she was lucky to get that far — after party officials banned her from speaking at the event on food banks organised by Oxfam, before caving in under pressure from the media and internet:
“I almost didn’t make it – receiving an email on Thursday morning … refusing my conference pass less than a week before the event with no explanation. After a few hours of Twitter outrage and a little intervention from The Sunday People, they ‘reconsidered’ and printed my pass.”
Monroe is not the only one to fall foul of the conference thought police.
Even members of staff working for paid conference exhibitors have been banned for previous activism.
Grayling says:
Plenty in the Tory party and UKIP that would quite willingly drive Priti Patel to Gatwick or Heathrow and put her on the first plane …what a naughty girl Jack Monroe is …they think she should keep her mouth shut , not rock the boat and vote Tory ” dahn sarf “
Ian says:
I think any organisation should be free to decide who attends its own events.
I am sure there are plenty of right-wingers who would struggle to get accreditation to give a speech at a Labour conference if they so wanted to do so.
…or maybe they’ll just sit in the auditorium until they are hauled out by security.
stephen.a.anderson.s says:
theres an old mancunian saying,which we like to give to politicians,etc, when reminding them,—we–the—british–electorate,–are –politicians–employers,,and you as politicians, are grossly incompetent,predjudiced.and blind to reason,and logic,–the–saying–we–have,,,——is—the—truth—hurts..
Ghost Whistler says:
a sign of hope or failure? Hope?
What hope is there for someone with no fucking food?
Everyone of these filthy tory cunts should be fucking hung.