Grenfell firefighter snubs Theresa May invite to Number 10 because he works a second job

A firefighter who attended the Grenfell Tower blaze has snubbed an invite from the prime minister to 10 Downing Street.

David Badillo, 44, who has been a firefighter for 19 years, turned down Theresa May’s invitation to a reception for emergency services staff because he has to work a second job.

He said he had to work to pay rent and put food on the table for his family because of years of a public service pay cap.

He criticised the Conservative MPs who applauded in the House of Commons when they won a vote to maintain the pay freeze just days after an estimated 80 people were killed in the Grenfell fire in west London.

Mr Badillo said he held the government in ‘complete contempt’.

Posting on Facebook, he wrote: ‘Yesterday I was invited to 10 Downing Street with 35 of my fire brigade colleagues.

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‘Unfortunately I had to turn down the invite from the prime minister as it is on a Monday and I will be working my second job to pay my rent and put food on the table for my family.

‘I have to do this due to 8 years of pay cuts. Which will continue after being enthusiastically voted in by our government, cheering, days after the Grenfell fire, when the vote was won.

‘So when you’re giving out your meaningless praise for our emergency services remember I hold you in complete contempt.

‘I won’t even go into the neglect and utter incompetence you have shown the Grenfell community in the days, weeks and months after the fire.’

Mrs May held a reception for members of the emergency services at Downing Street on Monday evening, to thank first responders to the Grenfell fire and terrorist attacks.

She said: ‘You see the worst of us, but represent the best of us.

‘You are the ones who run towards devastation, while others run as fast as they can the other way.

‘And every day you go to work knowing you could be called on to face things which most of us would never want to confront.’

However, Mr Badillo, from Brentford, west London, said the prime minister’s invite was ‘hollow’.

He works a second job on his days off from the fire service as a labourer, earning £80 a day.

He told The Mirror: ‘It is hard to make ends meet and if I did not have a second job I would struggle to pay the mortgage.

‘I did not join the job to become a millionaire, but I love the job and expect a decent wage to enjoy life after work.

‘That is why the prime minister’s invite is so hollow and it beggars belief she has the front to invite us while cutting our pay.’