In a move that will outrage many claimants, the most divisive and anti-claimant secretary of state for work and pensions in many years, Iain Duncan Smith, is to spend next week standing in for Jeremy Vine on BBC Radio 2.
In an effort to show impartiality, the BBC have employed Ed Miliband to host the Jeremy Vine show this week.
However, there is an enormous difference between Miliband, who simply failed in his attempt to lead Labour to an election win and IDS, who has caused so much misery and hardship to so many people.
IDS was feared and despised by many sick and disabled claimants, not just because of his role in introducing Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment.
It was also the rhetoric which IDS used, and allowed the DWP to use, which inspired ever greater hatred of claimants. The increasing dehumanisation of claimants helped to ensure that the vicious ramping up of sanctions against claimants under IDS met with public approval.
IDS was also renowned for misusing, or simply making up, statistics. The UK Statistics Authority found that claims that 50% of DLA awards were made without any supporting evidence and that 71% of DLA awards were indefinite were both untrue.
Another claim by IDS that 8,000 people had moved back into work as a result of the benefits cap was found to be unsupported by any evidence.
IDS also dropped out of a hustings in his own constituency in 2015 after it was revealed that the sister of David Clapson, the diabetic former soldier who died after his benefits were cut, would be attending.
If you’d like to tell the BBC what you think about IDS being used as a presenter for a week, contact details for the Jeremy Vine show are here
