FOLLOWING the report of a tragic fire, an MP took the opportunity to make an idiot of himself.

It is no surprise that The Conservatives have not put Jacob Rees-Mogg on the campaign trail for the time being, and this is the right decision.

There have been comments that his recent controversy has put the party ‘on the back foot’ leading up to the general election after Mr Rees-Mogg’s comment about Grenfell, the west London fire in 2017 in which 72 people died.

Outrage was caused when the MP made a comment about how victims did not use “common sense” when they followed fire service advice to stay put in the burning building.

Following this there were calls for Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, to resign.

The rapper Stormzy joined relatives, including the nephew of a Grenfell Tower victim who died after being told to stay put by the London fire brigade, in slating the cabinet minister’s statement that victims should have left the burning tower block.

Although Mr Rees-Mogg has apologised, I feel this will not go away anytime soon. What made the comment, made just a few days after the publication of the public enquiry report, more insulting is that he has probably never been inside a block of flats in his life. The victims have been through enough.

However, it is not just politicians who are not getting it.

Whenever tragedies occur you always get certain celebrities chiming in to boost their profile, which personally I find more revolting.

I am surprised the singer Lily Allen hasn’t put her two pennies in yet being that she was so vocal about it when the fire happened. She was even due to appear on News Night, before her appearance was cancelled due to her saying something stupid. Why in the world she became the spokesman on the issue in the first place is beyond me.

I also doubt she has any idea what it is like to live in a deprived area, but she seems to think she is qualified, throwing a tantrum on stage at The Isle of Wight Festival when some audience members didn’t want to take part in her minute's silence tribute in June, three years after the fire.

It is a shame that these people distract attention from the real story which can only be told by victims and their families.