The British Conservative politician Jacob Rees-Mogg has apologised for comments he made about the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
72 people died following the blaze in London on 14th June 2017, with the first report into the tragedy published last month.
The leader of the House of Commons commented on the Grenfell fire during an interview on the LBC radio station yesterday.
He said: "The more one’s read over the weekend about the report and about the chances of people surviving, if you just ignore what you’re told and leave you are so much safer.
"And I think if either of us were in a fire, whatever the fire brigade said, we would leave the burning building. It just seems the common sense thing to do. And it is such a tragedy that that didn’t happen."
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called the Tory MP's remarks "crass and insensitive", and demanded an 'immediate' apology from Mr Rees-Mogg.
What possesses someone to react to an entirely avoidable tragedy like Grenfell by saying the victims lacked common sense? People were terrified, many died trying to escape. Jacob Rees Mogg must apologise for these crass and insensitive comments immediately.https://t.co/QczW5iyxkR
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) November 5, 2019
Labour MP David Lammy, meanwhile, claimed Mr Rees-Mogg's "arrogance and condescension is monstrous".
'Profoundly apologise'
Today, Mr Rees-Mogg said he was 'profoundly' sorry for the comments.
He told the Evening Standard newspaper: "What I meant to say is that I would have also listened to the fire brigade's advice to stay and wait at the time.
"However, with what we know now and with hindsight I wouldn't and I don't think anyone else would."
He added: "What's so sad is that the advice given overrides common sense because everybody would want to leave a burning building."
"I would hate to upset the people of Grenfell if I was unclear in my comments."
Last month, the first report into the Grenfell Tower fire concluded that fewer people would have died if the London Fire Brigade had evacuated people earlier.
The report praised the bravery of individual firefighters but criticised fire brigade management over the lack of a plan to evacuate the tower.
It noted that the organisation's "stay put" strategy meant that residents were told to stay in their flats by emergency services.
This meant residents were told to remain in their flats by firefighters and 999 operators for nearly two hours after the June 2017 blaze started.
