Gaffes--latest

G Younge back on more familiar territory today in el Garu. Rees-Mogg is an arrogant bastard, we all know, swaggering about in his top hat spitting at the poor. Here he is bang to rights, because of the insult he levelled at Grenfell survivors.

But Younge also quotes more context:

asked by Nick Ferrari on LBC if race or class discrimination had anything to do with the Grenfell tragedy. Rees-Mogg said no, pointing instead to the flammable cladding and the residents’ decision to obey the fire brigade’s demands to stay put. [More or less what the Inquiry has found --  so far] “If either of us were in a fire,” he told Ferrari, “whatever the fire brigade said we would leave the burning building. It just seems the common sense thing to do and it’s such a tragedy that that didn’t happen.”

A bit more of a skilled reading is required to convict him now:

Rees-Mogg gives voice to a sense of innate superiority that comes with the privilege of his class. If he lived in Grenfell Tower he would have survived because, unlike those who died, he has common sense. Having insisted the tragedy had nothing to do with class discrimination, his contempt drips from every word.[Really? Younge has a special contempt-detector -- or a chip on his shoulder]

Unlike a Labour politician who was bollocked for insisting that being a billionaire was immoral (Guardian editorial independence and all that) :

When Rees-Mogg makes his point ...he is given free rein [!]. The scandal is not realised in real time – the outrage emerges later from social media. Ferrari listens intently while Rees-Mogg prattles on. “It’s rather sad to raise these kinds of points [of racism and classism] over a great tragedy,” Rees-Mogg says....[we never knew he'd said that either --surely a further charge of disrespect is due? The chap disagrees with Younge! ] Challenge the existence of billionaires and you will be confronted in disbelief; utter a slur [!] against those who die in a fire and you will get an uninterrupted hearing.

And a bit of a spin is needed on what Budgen said:

Then another Tory MP stepped up to defend him, explaining that what he really meant was that he was cleverer than the fire service chiefs who gave the advice.

It's all deeply significant for those who can see:

These were only gaffes in the sense that both the Labour and Tory MPs were caught saying out loud what they actually believe.

What Younge believes they believe? What they believe 'in effect' even though their actual words were different?