A government minister today said the Tories did not “gang up” on Marcus Rashford after they voted down his free school meal campaign.
The football star urged the government on Wednesday to put aside party politics after the Labour Party’s bid to extend free school meals was defeated by 322 votes to 261.
Prior to the vote, Rashford had clashed with Tory MPs online after they suggested that extending free school meals during the school holidays “increases dependency” on the state and the cost could contribute to “destroying the currency”.
A leaked memo also revealed that the Tory whips had emailed MPs with suggested interventions during the debate. The memo suggested MPs could highlight that Labour did not offer free school meals during the holidays when they were in government
Asked on Sky News why the whips were telling MPs to “gang-up” on Rashford, the Minister for Crime and Policing minister Kit Malthouse said: “I haven’t been told to gang up on [Marcus Rashford].”
Pressed on the whips email, Mr Malthouse replied: “I don’t think it’s necessarily ganging up.
“It’s standard practice during any debates for political parties to issue briefs with suggested lines.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily against footballers, right, but quite a lot of this debate takes place on Twitter now so I don’t think it’s particularly remarkable.
“MPs have to make their own decisions - I didn’t see that - MPs have to make their own decisions about what they say publicly.”
Responding to the memo, Mr Rashford replied: “I despair that we are using the topic of child food poverty to one-up each other.”
Only five Conservatives rebelled against the Government to vote for feeding more than 1.4 million children during school breaks until Easter next year.
The Manchester United striker, who forced the Government into a U-turn in the summer, told his 3.5million Twitter followers children would go to bed “not only hungry but feeling like they do not matter”.
The 22-year-old, who became an MBE this month, added: “This is not politics, this is humanity.
“We talk about the devastating impact of COVID-19 but, if projections are anything to go by, child food poverty has the potential to become the greatest pandemic the country has ever faced. We must start working together and unite to protect our most vulnerable children.”
Opposition figures branded the outcome of last night's vote “disgusting”, with many accusing the Government of “not caring” that the more than 1.4 million children eligible for free school meals would now go hungry.
