Food blogger Jack Monroe has found herself at the centre of controversy this week over a Twitter comment she made about British Prime Minister David Cameron’s deceased son.
Referring to Cameron’s late son Ivan, who sadly passed away in 2009 after suffering with severe epilepsy and cerebral palsy, Monroe tweeted: ““Because he uses stories about his dead son as misty-eyed rhetoric to legitimise selling our NHS to his friends: #CameronMustGo”.
One of the first people to come out and publicly slam Monroe for her comments was Daily Mail columnist Sarah Vine, who branded Monroe’s comments as “revolting, cruel and heartless”.
Because he uses stories about his dead son as misty-eyed rhetoric to legitimise selling our NHS to his friends: #CameronMustGo
— Jack Monroe (@MsJackMonroe) November 23, 2014
Vine retaliated at Guardian columnist Monroe, taking a personal swipe at the single mother-of-one, who is a lesbian.
In comments that have since been widely condemned online, Vine wrote of Monroe:
“No one forced her to have a child. Indeed, if she was in anyway uncertain of her sexual orientation, arguably she should have taken greater precautions. But is seems that Ms Monroe isn’t one for assuming responsibility for her actions.”
Vine’s comments have caused equal outrage to Monroe’s original tweet, with a number of high profile figures coming out to criticise her.
The shabbiest element of this by Sarah Vine is the cowardly use of the word "arguably" pic.twitter.com/yqQrleN0UJ
— Chris Bryant (@ChrisBryantMP) November 25, 2014
While Monroe herself slammed Vine’s article as being ‘homophobic’ and ‘ignorant’, MP Chris Bryant also took to Twitter to brand the piece as ‘cowardly'.
Both women have defended their comments online and on their social media.