Jack Monroe hilariously trolls GB News’ Tom Harwood over ‘pre-pandemic’ Sue Gray picture
Jack Monroe (L) was among those poking holes into Tom Harwood’s scoop. (Getty Images/Twitter)
British anti-poverty campaigner Jack Monroe left GB News reporter Tom Harwood humiliated after he posted a “pre-pandemic” photograph of Sue Gray.
On Monday (6 June), GB News political correspondent Harwood tweeted a photograph of the top-ranking civil servant behind a damning report into the law-breaking boozy parties that took place in Downing Street.
Amid a tense no-confidence vote for prime minister Boris Johnson, the former Guido Fawkes reporter shared a heavily watermarked photo showing Gray singing on a karaoke machine in Whitehall.
“EXCL: I have obtained an image of Sue Gray – whose report criticised the Downing Street drinking culture – singing karaoke at a boozy Whitehall pre-pandemic bash,” he tweeted.
“This picture reveals the senior civil servant enjoying the same karaoke machine cited in her own report.” The photo itself features a small caption that says: “Photo Taken Pre-Pandemic.”
And to quote Harwood’s own article: “The photo was taken before the pandemic and there is no suggestion of any lockdown-breaking behaviour on Ms Gray’s part.”
Yes, Gray really did attend a party… before the coronavirus pandemic and before any legal restrictions were enforced by the government. She really did, Downing Street sources told GB News, sing “You’re The One That I Want” by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John from Grease.
The story went down about as well as you’d expect on Twitter. Leading the charge was food writer Monroe, who flawlessly put the 25-year-old in his place.
“EXCL: I have obtained an image of Tom Harwood – whose Twitter is a f**kery of bilious dirge and a tenuous relationship with facts – leaving his home without a facemask pre-pandemic,” the 33-year-old said.
https://twitter.com/BootstrapCook/status/1533829999710593026
“The picture reveals the former Guido Fawkes ‘reporter’ enjoying a stroll looking like a b**lend.”
Countless Twitter users joined Monroe in poking holes in Harwood’s story.
How journalism works:
Massive scoop: *Sue Gray singing karaoke at a mid Pandemic party*
Really not a Scoop at all: *Sue Gray singing karaoke at a Pre-Pandemic party* https://t.co/jvsuRPMSFB
— Otto English (@Otto_English) June 6, 2022
me, tutting at pictures of people at an LCD Soundsystem concert in 2018: these people care not a jot for the novel coronavirus https://t.co/NFmNECa7Kq— Alex Kealy (@alexkealy) June 6, 2022
https://twitter.com/EmmaKennedy/status/1533815872472633347
Tom did you honestly read headlines like "PM partied while people died" and think the outrage was over the karaoke machine https://t.co/CKYQ9DKbBw— katie spalding (@supermathskid) June 6, 2022
the number of times that you’re forced to acknowledge that this is pre-pandemic and this ‘exclusive’ is just a grainy photo of a woman singing karaoke, makes this one of the funniest things on twitter today, and today Nadine Dorries told us all Britain was at war with Ukraine https://t.co/s9TY75cWMi— Sorcha Ní Nia (@Luiseach) June 6, 2022
According to Gray’s report published in May, one of the many, many lockdown-breaking and booze-fueled parties at Number 10 included an event which lasted for hours and involved a karaoke machine.
Attendees “brought pizza and prosecco” while Helen MacNamara, the then-deputy cabinet secretary, “provided a karaoke machine”.
“There was excessive alcohol consumption by some individuals. One individual was sick. There was a minor altercation between two other individuals,” Gray’s report stated.
PinkNews has contacted Tom Harwood for comment.
