DWP lies about Universal Credit again: Poster boy ‘Charlie’ is an ACTOR
Here’s Charlie. According to Amber Rudd, he’s a Universal Credit success story who has now embarked on a “training career”.
👋 Meet Charlie
🥊 Because of the personal support #UniversalCredit provides, Charlie started a personal training career
👌 Universal Credit is helping people into work and I am going to share these good stories with you
🎬 So don’t just take my word for it, take Charlie’s 👇 pic.twitter.com/rijoZCpwMA
— Amber Rudd (@AmberRuddUK) January 28, 2019
And… here’s Charlie. According to The Canary, based on research by Universal Credit Sufferer writer Alex Tiffin, he’s a TV extra who has appeared on programmes including First Dates.
DWP deletes video which showed a man called ‘Charlie’, who they said was a ‘Universal Credit success story’
It turns out his name is Charlie Watson, a TV extra who also appeared on First Dates
Here is the video of ‘Charlie’ the DWP has since deleted:pic.twitter.com/J4CaUlqfN1
— Socialist Voice (@SocialistVoice) January 29, 2019
Yes, we’re discussing the same person.
Here’s what Mr Tiffin found:
Dear @AmberRuddHR & @dwppressoffice.
Charlie who you recently bragged about is an established extra/model who has been successful prior to #UniversalCredit.
Was paid for his appearance?
FYI, he has traveled extensively since 2013 and documented it, joints included. pic.twitter.com/ldiCqTWVTv
— Alex Tiffin (@RespectIsVital) January 29, 2019
Gosh – a Universal Credit claimant who’s been able to travel extensively and enjoy other recreational activities (without being harassed by the DWP)? It seems too good to be true!
One wonders if the DWP got him from the same acting agency as the so-called Vicar of Brexit?
But the DWP said it was true…
Charlie is clearly articulate & capable of presenting himself at interviews due to his work as an actor & degree qualification, making the role played by the work coach untenable. These would be reasons people regard him as too good to be true. Could never be said about #DWP
— WOWcampaign (@WOWpetition) January 29, 2019
Hi Alex,
Glad you met Charlie.
Your scepticism and conspiracy theories are misplaced.
More than 1.6 million people claim UC, and they have a wide range of life experiences. No matter what work you’ve done, you can apply for UC.
Cynically exploiting people’s pasts doesn’t help https://t.co/RJ8HZzqbbL
— Amber Rudd (@AmberRuddUK) January 29, 2019
… and then the DWP deleted the advert from its website, perhaps after reading the details of Charlie’s recent life in the Canary article.
Still unanswered are the questions asked in that piece, which were:
- Why it got a media professional to take part in its video.
- Why it got someone who has seemingly not been in extended periods of financial difficulty.
- Why it thought Watson was representative of Universal Credit.
- Why it failed to inform viewers of his background.
It’s like some kind of reverse IQ test – are people stupid enough to believe the DWP’s lies yet?
Remember Zac and Sarah?
‘Zac’ – he doesn’t exist either and his story has also been faked by the DWP.
‘Sarah’ – she doesn’t exist and her story is a fake.
Fictional people, played by actors.
They were part of a publicity initiative by the DWP under Iain Duncan Smith in 2015, which I discussed in this article at the time.
It seems the DWP has not learned its lesson – or its leaders think we have poor memories.
Perhaps it is hoping that our intelligence is failing us.
Well, it isn’t and we don’t.
Amber Rudd is trying to brazen it out – all she has done so far is remove the offending advert from the DWP’s website.
But she has tried to deceive the people of the UK – as Iain Duncan Smith tried in 2015. We deserve an apology – or better still, a resignation. She’ll be familiar with the process.
His Instagram and twitter history show he was working as a personal trainer for PureGym in at least March 2018 he is still working for them in January 2019. Universal Credit rolled out in Salford in September 2018. DWP spokesman said video was filmed 3 or 4 months ago. In the video he says Work Coach John helped him pursue a career as a personal trainer. How can everything portrayed in the video be true the timeline just doesn’t fit.
Even if he had been completely genuine, his story is hardly representative of the thousands of desperate, poor, sometimes elderly unemployed, often in poor health, and with taxing family responsibilities who are forced on to UC. His story, evident from the video, is of a perfectly capable, fit, single young man who basically “decided” to go to the jobcentre to see what assistance they could offer in his pursuit of something he’d “enjoy” doing. He certainly didn’t appear to be in need of financial assistance which, let’s face it, is the only reason anyone else would turn to the DWP and Universal Credit.
Yet more Tory cheating and fraud. It’s all they know.
More lies
Aktion t4 rolling along without much of a ado. UC a stick now to beat the working peasants with when will people wake up to this fact they culling the stock through benefits denial jeff3
Maybe they’ve had to use actors because they couldn’t find a Univerrsal Claimant who could stop laughing long enough after reading the ridiculous lines presenting a totally fictional scenario – that Universal Credit helps anyone!
As the saying goes “you couldn’t even make this up” could you?
Disgusting
Amber Rudd as been caught out lying once again…she needs to stand up in parliament and refute if these claims are false…
Is the Department for Work & Pensions a “trading style” of the Ministry of Truth or the Ministry of Love? Questions, questions…
“…No matter what work you’ve done, you can apply for UC….”
She forgot to add ,”but you may or may not get it and you might have to wait until you are so far in debt you end up homeless”