Iain Duncan Smith and the Scrounger Narrative

Iain Duncan Smith responding to Salma Yaqoob

I do, fairly regularly, get annoyed at things that happen on Question Time. That's kind of what it's for. It's an hour of cathartic irritation at politicians who do everything they can to avoid questions. And that's fine. I tend to see mine and many people's roles on twitter as being those standing at the sides throwing rotten fruit and mocking ties.

But the anger I felt at Iain Duncan Smith on Thursday was something different.

During the show, he'd been having a shockingly easy time of it. Despite the relative rarity of having a secretary of state on Question Time, either no questions were asked that were about his direct work or none were selected.

However, Salma Yaqeeb, the head of the Birmingham Stop the War Coalition, made things a little bit more difficult - albeit after being repeatedly shouted over and interrupted by the male panelists in an uncomfortable display that made me disappointed in both Chris Bryant and Ian Hislop.

She immediately became a twitter darling when she said to Iain Duncan Smith:

"I’m sitting next to Iain Duncan Smith who labels poor people as scroungers when you claim £39 for a breakfast, like you can’t afford your own breakfast, and you live on your wife’s estate and have taken a million pounds of taxpayers’ money, that’s what I call scrounging."

To which Duncan Smith replied, with an air of offended sensibilities and personal outrage:

"What a load of old nonsense. I have never, ever labelled them as scroungers at all."

I actually believe that he doesn't use the term. He's taken George Osborne to task about it and has also talked about how his party have got the language wrong. So, yes. I totally believe he has never called them scroungers.

But that's not the point. The point is that he has labelled them scroungers, repeatedly and intentionally. The point is that he has created, established and maintained the narrative of people on benefits being scroungers.

Here are just some of the headlines you'll find when you google search 'Iain Duncan Smith Scroungers'. If he was so upset about labelling people 'scroungers', don't you think he'd have had something to say about these headlines?

Benefits system is broken! UK's top scroungers on £300-a-week more than the average family

February 24, 2014

Mr Duncan Smith said: “Benefits were out of control and people were rightly outraged at some households receiving far more in benefits than the ordinary hard-working family.

“We have fixed this broken system by introducing a fair limit to make sure the system works for taxpayers who fund it. Our reforms ensure claiming benefits is no longer a more attractive option than being in work.” 

Workshy told scrounging no longer an option in new benefits crackdown

December 28 2013

Duncan Smith said: “The decision to claim benefits should no longer be considered a lifestyle choice.

“This will make it clear that looking for work requires as much effort and commitment as a full-time job.”

Disabled people once again branded as scroungers

15 May 2012

Dicussing a Telegraph interview, in which Iain Duncan Smith says that the number of claimants has risen by 30 percent in recent years “rising well ahead of any other gauge you might make about illness, sickness, disability”. Losing a limb should not automatically entitle people to a pay-out, he suggests.

2015 starts now: Tories get tough on scroungers and immigrants

18 February 2013

Speaking on the Marr Show, Duncan Smith said: "My view of life is simple – we make sure our door is shut to those who want to come and claim benefits and is open to those who want to come and contribute and work and make this economy good and strong."

Government declares war on Benefits Street's scroungers

January 23 2014

He added: "Our real success has been to reframe the argument (emphasis mine) – challenging a narrative beloved of the left … which focuses so exclusively on how much is being spent on welfare that it risks overlooking the real question: it is not about how much goes into the benefit system, but what difference it makes to people at the other end."

4,000 jobless singletons raking in benefits worth more than £23,000 to be hit by lower benefits cap for people living alone

12 August 2013

‘For those eyeballing benefits as a one-way ticket to easy street, I have a wake-up call for you: those days are over,’ he writes.

2015 starts now: Tories get tough on scroungers and immigrants

Monday 18 February 2013

Speaking on the Marr Show, Duncan Smith said: "My view of life is simple – we make sure our door is shut to those who want to come and claim benefits and is open to those who want to come and contribute and work and make this economy good and strong."


There are plenty more.

Iain Duncan Smith doesn't want to be called out for labelling people scroungers. But he has pushed the narrative time and time and time and time and time and time again.

The idea that our government would intentionally create this narrative and then try to distance itself from it makes me angry.

The idea that Iain Duncan Smith has pushed a narrative about scroungers when so many of them are people that need our help makes me angry.

The idea that he categorises human beings as job seekers who aren't pulling their weight enough or people with mental or physical issues preventing them from working as fraudsters in a country where these benefits can make the difference between life and death makes me angry.

The idea that Iain Duncan Smith can do all of this again and again and again and again over years, but get upset and offended because he avoids using a specific word, the idea that he would try to abdicate responsibility for his own clear and repeated actions, the idea that he would try to turn it into a narrative about words instead... that just disgusts me.