Johnny Mercer was cut down to size by a Question Time audience member after he provoked fury earlier in the week for suggesting that military personnel using food banks is a “personal decision”.
The armed forces minister was speaking to Kay Burley on Sky News about the rising number of people in the armed forces having to choose between ‘food or fuel’ after an investigation found some are unable to afford to drive home from their base to see family.
In January, Sky News found instances of one aviator, a single mother, who was forced to go without a hot meal for four days because she had spent her last money on baby milk formula.
It also revealed that the volume of enquiries to a key charity from or on behalf of military personnel seeking financial support has more than doubled.
Pressed on the matter on Question Time, Mercer blamed social media for whipping up a storm in relation to his comments.
He said: “People on social media try to outdo each other on how outraged they are about something that never happened. That is collective bed wetting. There’s a culture on social media to become more and more outraged. It’s a bad side of social media.”
But one woman wasn’t having any of it, and cut him down to size with just one sentence.
Watch another clip of Mercer making a fool out of himself below:
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