Grenfell Survivor: Andrew Bridgen's Comments Upset Me Even More Than Jacob Rees-Mogg's

5 November 2019, 23:50 | Updated: 6 November 2019, 07:00

A Grenfell disaster survivor fire has told LBC that he finds Andrew Bridgen's defence of Jacob Rees-Mogg's comments about the fire more offensive than what the Commons Leader originally said.

Tiago Alves, who escaped the fire with his family from their 13th floor flat, called in to Tom Swarbrick's show after hearing what Mr Bridgen had said.

Mr Bridgen told the BBC that Mr Rees-Mogg would probably have survived the fire because he is "clever".

Grenfell survivor Tiago Alves in the LBC studio
Grenfell survivor Tiago Alves called in to Tom Swarbrick after hearing Andrew Bridgen's comments. Picture: LBC

Mr Bridgen's comments came in response to demands for his fellow Tory to quit as Commons Leader, after he told LBC's Nick Ferrari that it would have been "common sense" to ignore the official London Fire Brigade advice, to 'stay put',

22 year-old Tiago told Tom that Mr Bridgen's comments are "not even a defence" and instead represented him "basically admitting that Jacob Rees-Mogg was trying to portray that the people of Grenfell were not clever".

Jacob Rees-Mogg and Andrew Bridgen
Conservatives Jacob Rees-Mogg and Andrew Bridgen have both caused outrage this week. Picture: LBC, PA

Mr Alves told LBC: "What Andrew was trying to say is that he believes the people in the Tower were not clever people.

"I know a lot of the people who passed away - they were my friends and my neighbours. For Andrew Bridgen to come out and say something like this without having met any of the grieving survivors, he's basically admitting that Jacob Rees-Mogg was saying that the people of Grenfell were not clever.

"Jacob Rees-Mogg has apologised. I think that Andrew Bridgen should apologise too."

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