It has been heartening to see small businesses rush to offer help to poor children
Oh dear, Boris Johnson, not another massive public spanking from 22-year-old Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford? Last time, as part of his food poverty activism alongside the charity network FareShare, Rashford, the child of a single mother, forced the government into a climbdown over feeding vulnerable children during the summer holiday and he was made an MBE. This time, the Labour parliamentary motion that he inspired, which proposed feeding disadvantaged children in England during the half-term/Christmas breaks, was defeated by a shameful 322 to 261 votes.
However, huge numbers of restaurants, cafes and businesses, most probably having a tough time themselves, backed Rashford’s #EndChildFoodPoverty campaign, offering food and aid, and councils – even some Tory ones – said they would be helping. Rashford’s Twitter feed became a national information centre-cum-mass outpouring of community spirit. The Tories shouldn’t be ignoring Rashford, they should be hiring him.
