Veterans’ minister Johnny Mercer and TV presenter Carol Vorderman have ramped up their extraordinary social media war after he swiped at her ‘sh** lonely life’.
The Tory MP hit back after Vorderman – who was dropped by the BBC over her anti-government rants – accused him of breaking a promise to end homelessness among ex-forces personnel.
The former Countdown maths whizz said Mr Mercer had vowed to eradicate the problem this year, but in fact numbers had risen by 14 per cent.
However, he argued that his pledge had been to stop ‘veterans sleeping rough due to a lack of provision’ – which he had achieved.
Mr Mercer complained that Vorderman and the Labour candidate in his Plymouth seat, Fred Thomas, were ‘deliberately misleading people’ to ‘make your sh** lonely life better’.
‘No one normal really cares about your view. They think you’re mad. I’m changing veterans’ lives. What I came into politics to do,’ he posted on the X site.
Johnny Mercer (pictured right with wife Felicity) hit back after Carol Vorderman (left) – who was dropped by the BBC over her anti-government rants – accused him of breaking a promise to end homelessness among ex-forces personnel
Mr Mercer complained that Vorderman and the Labour candidate in his Plymouth seat, Fred Thomas, were ‘deliberately misleading people’ about his pledge on homelessness to ‘make your sh** lonely life better’
Vorderman hit back by branding Mr Mercer ‘childish’ and saying he was ‘slinging abuse’
Vorderman hit back by branding Mr Mercer ‘childish’ and saying he was ‘slinging abuse’.
She also complained that he had ‘insulted’ Mr Thomas by sniping that he only served ‘five minutes’ in the forces, when actually he had been in the Royal Marines for seven years.
Mr Mercer – a former army captain – and his wife Felicity have had a long-running spat with Vorderman.
The bizarre feud began early in July when Mrs Cornelius-Mercer accused Vorderman of being a ‘celebrity attack dog’ who was ‘inciting people to hate all Tories’.
The row even made it into the House of Commons when a Conservative MP accused Vorderman of being a ‘snob’ after she criticised the Mercers for not going to university.
The latest instalment in the long-running feud erupted after Vorderman argued on the X site that Mr Mercer had broken his pledge
Mr Mercer voiced ‘frustration’ with the allegations about his homelessness promise, and jibed that Vorderman was ‘irrelevant’
Vorderman also complained that he had ‘insulted’ Mr Thomas by sniping that he only served ‘five minutes’ in the forces, when actually he had been in the Royal Marines for seven years
Mr Mercer was educated at £10,000-a-year Eastbourne College and served in the British Army while his wife worked as a crewing supervisor for MK Airlines.
She is now Principal Secretary in her husband’s office – receiving a salary of between £40,000 to £49,000.
Mrs Cornelius-Mercer celebrated last month after Vorderman left her BBC show over her partisan social media posts.
The MPs’ wife posted ‘Binned by BBC’ with an emoji of a bin.
She also liked another user’s post branding the former Countdown presenter ‘Vordermort’ in reference to the Harry Potter villain.
Vorderman previously accused Mrs Cornelius-Mercer of ‘harassment’ and shared a reel showing a series of tweets she had sent her.
In response, Mrs Cornelius-Mercer said she had been tagging her in abusive tweets sent to her husband to show how she had stirred up ‘awful traffic’ by ‘telling followers to target MPs’.
She added: ‘Feel free to stop the reel and read them. These hateful comments are sent to us as a direct result of @carolvorders drivel. I’ve only ever reacted to her rubbish about hating all Tories, which has been going on long before I got involved.’