Jacob Rees-Mogg has launched an unprecedented attack on the UN organization Unicef, alleging that he should be "shamed" for feeding London's hungry children.

The Leader of the Commons said it was a "scandal" that by granting £ 25,000 to support breakfasts for disadvantaged youngsters in Southwark, UNICEF was "playing politics."

The organisation, which is charged with delivering humanitarian assistance to children around the world, is helping School Food Matters' group project provide more than 20,000 breakfasts during the two-week Christmas and half-term February holidays.

It is the first time UNICEF has established a UK domestic emergency response in its 70-year history.

When Labor MP Zarah Sultana raised the program on Thursday, Rees-Mogg replied, "“I think it's a real scandal that Unicef should be playing politics in this way when it is meant to be looking after people in the poorest, the most deprived countries in the world, where people are starving, where there are famines and where there are civil wars."

"And they make such cheap political points - giving one council, I think, £ 25,000. It's a political stunt of the lowest order."

The senior Tory praised the work of the government to combat child poverty, which he described as a record of effective conservatism.
Mr Rees-Mogg answered a separate query later in the session regarding a "despicable act" in Nigeria in which 330 boys were abducted.

Rees-Mogg added: "To go back to an earlier question, you do wonder that Unicef might think a bit more about this than faffing around in England.”  

Labor Deputy Leader Angela Rayner tweeted, "I'm saying that Jacob Rees-Mogg, Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak, and the rest of the government should be ashamed of letting kids go hungry."

Every Tory MP who voted against free meals at school should be ashamed of himself.

Jacob Rees Mogg, founder of the old Etonian hedge fund, who has personal wealth in excess of £ 100 million, says it is a 'scandal' that Unicef has to feed poor children in Britain.

"The only scandal is this rotten government that leaves more than 4 million children living in poverty."

Anna Kettley, director of programs at Unicef UK, said the fund was launched in order to counter the pandemic's "unprecedented impact" and meet the families most in need.

The charity said that an estimated 2.4 million UK children were already growing up in food-insecure areas before the pandemic hit. There are 15,000 babies in Southwark who are vulnerable to food insecurity.

Stephanie Slater, founder of School Food Matters, said that families were really struggling" and many faced the "indignity" of having to rely on food banks to feed their kids.

It comes after the Food For London Now appeal was launched by the Evening Standard, which helps finance the distribution of food to poor, elderly and disabled Londoners.

A government spokesman commented yesterday: "We are dedicated to supporting the lowest-paid families through and beyond the pandemic." That's why we increased the minimum wage, boosted billions of pounds of welfare funding and launched the £ 170m Covid Winter Grant Program to help kids and families stay safe and well-fed in the coldest months.