Former Tory MP for Portsmouth North Penny Mordaunt has had quite the career: from reality TV to Charlie’s coronation via a failed Conservative Party leadership bid and Leader of the House of Commons. However, perhaps her most notorious achievement is paying for foodbanks in her constituency. Now, she’s back promoting them again – rebranded to “food pantries”, as before.
Mordaunt: food ‘pantries’ are NOT foodbanks. OK, then…
Byline Times Adam Bienkov spotted that Mordaunt has been promoting her food pantries once again during this year’s general election:
Penny Mordaunt boasting about the spread of "food pantries" in her constituency (rebranded food banks with a small membership charge). pic.twitter.com/IQ4uE0mELl
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) June 12, 2024
Back in 2022, Mordaunt paid for three food “pantries” (not ‘foodbanks’ – ‘pantries’) to open in Portsmouth. She’s funding it from the royalties of a book she wrote. The News said that these pantries are where:
people facing financial difficulties can buy heavily-discounted groceries.
Yes, we know. That’s a foodbank – right? Well, not if you’re Mordaunt. The News continued, implying that unlike foodbanks:
No referral is needed to access them.
Never mind the fact that people don’t need a referral from places like Citizens Advice to access many independent foodbanks, anyway. So, what is the difference between Mordaunt’s pantries and a foodbank? The News revealed that:
a typical weekly shop bought through them would cost as little as £4.
Right – so you have to pay for the food. Now it’s making sense.
Essentially, Mordaunt admitted people were too poor to afford food, so she set up a load of discount shops under the guise of helping her community – which are foodbanks in all but name (and the fact people have to pay). Her party’s governments have caused poverty to skyrocket. Yet Mordaunt is so proud of her pantries that she filmed a video telling us all about them.
Defending the indefensible
Mordaunt said at the time that:
Food pantries are a great scheme that can help families reduce their food bills by about £800 a year. They’re not foodbanks where you need to be referred in. They’re open to everyone, and for a few pounds a week you can get a decent shop.
I’m opening 3 new Food Pantries in Portsmouth North with the proceeds from @GreaterTheBook. Paulsgrove and Baffins now up and running.
Huge thank you to @TheHive_Project @portsmouthtoday @CircularIT @portsmouthnews @StCuthbertCofE @PaulsgroveC @coopuk @PegasusPrince2 @LewisGos92 pic.twitter.com/ImJmLUanIy— Penny Mordaunt (@PennyMordaunt) December 7, 2022
Now, she’s setting up another one. People on X were rightly unimpressed:
They’ll privatise anything these fucking ghouls https://t.co/QJ4uizXhS9
— Nooruddean (@BeardedGenius) June 13, 2024
A running theme was the monetisation of foodbanks:
Monetising food banks is just the fucking absolute epitome of these ghoulish cunts. https://t.co/NuMc4mhjEQ
— Gareth Rutter (@GaReth_Rutter) June 12, 2024
The Overton Window has shifted so much, though, that some alleged trade unionists were defending Mordaunt:
https://twitter.com/matflusk/status/1800869097548492836
Of course, there is no defence.
There is no defence of Mordaunt’s food pantries
As the Trussell Trust wrote, between April 2023 and March 2024:
More than 3.1 million emergency food parcels were distributed by food banks in the Trussell Trust network in the past 12 months — the most parcels ever distributed by the network in a year.
This trend has been seen since the 2010s. The Tories have been in power all that time. So, Mordaunt would never admit that foodbanks were a scourge of successive governments – that would implicate her in the horror.
Instead, this ghoul chooses to gaslight everyone who has to use them – by rebranding them and making our she has a charitable nature in the process. Mordaunt is supposed to be the palatable face of the Tories – yet here she is, running around trying to appeal to the ‘squeezed middle’ with this ‘food pantry’ dross.
Beyond rancid.
Featured image via the Canary
