Councillor apologises after ‘mocking’ food delivery on social media

And he has been accused of "politicising" the coronavirus pandemic by the councillor in question, who has called on all local councillors to "work together as common Brummies".

The spat arose after Conservative Councillor Simon Morrall posted on his Facebook page about the food deliveries he had been undertaking during the coronavirus pandemic.

He wrote: “Donated as much as I could to local food banks today, buying (with my own money) essential supplies and shamelessly using my council ID to wave the three-item rule at supermarkets so I can deliver to the old and vulnerable across Frankley (leaving bags at the front door of course).

“Credit to New Starts Frankley, Hollymoor Church and St Chads for what they’re doing. I am still on standby should anyone need me.”

Labour Councillor Olly Armstrong, for Northfield, then took to Twitter to seemingly mock Councilor Morrall. Tweeting about his own food delivery, he wrote: “Classic Cllr drops shopping on residents doorstep photo opp*

“Disclaimer: I didn’t pay for this myself. It was donated by many lovely local people.

“Keeping fully on brand by doing good work while making snarky comments while taking a photo of myself doing it.”

These comments have been criticised by Councillor Morrall, who said: “It’s simply unacceptable to mock anyone, let alone another councillor, for selflessly delivering food parcels to the old and vulnerable at this desperate time for our city.

“It is even more disappointing to see councillors weaponizing this whole pandemic for political gain, while shamefully exploiting people’s anxiety and fear, to make a few cheap political shots at the other side, when we are supposed to be working together as common Brummies!”

And Councillor Armstrong has now apologised for his posts both publicly and privately.

Writing to Councillor Morrall, he said: “Im genuinely sorry. In retrospect it was petty and mean of me to mock you, we have plenty to disagree with each other over politics and policy without me being unkind over something like this.

“I tried to apologise on the Facebook post, but you have me blocked.

“So, once again, I’m sorry. It was bad behaviour and I should know and act better.

“Keep sorting food for your residents, it’s a lovely thing to do.

“Let us know if you need any van deliveries to frankly of food as we have a (non-poltical!) foodbank set up under BCC covering the constituency.”

If you’re interested in helping your local community, you can:

Go to http://b31.org.uk/coronavirus-1/?wpbdp_view=all_listings for Northfield

Go to https://t.co/mzKjhrVlcA?amp=1 for Rubery.