On the 2nd of April, Michael Philpott and his accomplice Paul Mosley were found unanimously guilty of the manslaughter of six of Philpott’s children caused by a housefire. Philpott, his wife and Mosley set their Derbyshire house on fire and had intended to save the six sleeping children inside, and subsequently accuse Philpott’s ex-wife of arson so he could claim custody of his other children that resided with her. However, the flames were too strong, and he was unable to save his children. All six of them perished. Although his motivation was not clarified, there was an accusation that Philpott had calculated that he could claim more benefit money if he was given custody of the rest of his children. The right wing press – instead of focusing on the devastating death of six innocent children and the cold and callous nature of Philpott, that is independent of his social class – hijacked the story as a platform to incite hatred upon the poor, the unemployed and the disabled by claiming that Philpott and his despicable crime were in fact, according to The Daily Mail, a ‘vile product of welfare UK’.
Philpott had been in the glare of the media for some time; seemingly refusing to work to support his family of 17 children and gloating about his income of £60,000 a year solely deriving from the benefit system. Although he had undoubtedly played the system to avoid working; his story is not symptomatic of the work-shy, benefit-dependent society that the right wing press and Jeremy Kyle would have us believe is widespread and pervasive. It was recorded last year that a mere 0.7% of the welfare budget, or £1.2 billion, was lost to benefit fraud. Compare this to nearly £6 billion lost through tax avoidance by the rich and powerful and it is easy to see where the true problem lies.
The article in the Daily Mail; Mick Philpott, a vile product of welfare UK, is dangerous and damaging. It incites hatred upon those who are out of work or have many children to support. Those who demonize the poor do so at their own peril; the welfare system is invaluable and truly essential as a safety net for those who are struggling financially. Anyone can become unemployed or fall on hard times and so to use sensationalised stories of extreme benefit fraud and manipulation as indicative of the society we live in will only prove to remove that vital safety net and destroy what the Labour party of 1945 fought so hard for.
This reporting of the Philpott case shows us the paradox of the Tory government and David Cameron’s ‘Big Society’. They slash spending on vital public services such as the NHS, social services, the police force, and council budgets and yet at the same complaints resurface in the right-wing media; “why didn’t social services intervene and protect the Philpott children?” “Why did the police allow violence in the Philpott home and not attempt to curb his benefit fraud?” Well, the writing’s on the wall. If a government prioritises funding illegal warfare and tax cuts for the super rich over provisions for the remaining 95% of the population, potentially avoidable tragedies like the Philpott case will occur over and over again.
While it can be seen that while Michael Philpott is an uncaring and unscrupulous man who manipulated his family and ultimately killed six of his children, he is not a product of ‘welfare UK’. People like Philpott exist at all levels of society and to equate his reckless behaviour, that ultimately led to manslaughter, to the benefit system is dangerous and insulting to the majority of people who are rightfully supported by the welfare state. Not only this, but it demonizes the working classes and creates a ‘witch-hunt’ mentality in society, the media and the government. Philpott is the exception, not the rule and to focus on his extreme reliance on the welfare state is unrepresentative and presents us with a false impression that people like this are the ‘tip of the iceberg’ and that benefit fraud is an everyday, commonplace occurrence.
Jessica Davis