No evidence for Facebook quote attributed to politician Thérèse Coffey

An image circulating on Facebook falsely attributes a quote to former Conservative MP Thérèse Coffey. Next to an image of Dr Coffey the post says: “It is not my job to worry about people starving to death in the UK.” 

However, there’s no evidence Dr Coffey ever said this. 

We first saw this image circulating back in 2020, when Dr Coffey was work and pensions secretary for the then-Conservative government. 

The Facebook posts that were shared ahead of the general election on 3 and 4 July 2024 seem to use the same image; Dr Coffey is still referred to in them as an MP and as “Secretary of State for Work and Pensions”, despite the fact that she stopped heading that department in September 2022, and when Parliament was dissolved in May 2024 ahead of the election, she was no longer an MP. 

As we previously wrote, the quote appears to reference an interview Dr Coffey did with Sky News in September 2020, and a comment she gave to the Press Association (PA), following the death of Mercy Baguma—a Ugandan woman who was seeking asylum in the UK and was found dead alongside her malnourished child in Glasgow on 22 August 2020. 

When a PA reporter tried to ask Dr Coffey about Ms Baguma on 26 August 2020, she reportedly replied: “I appreciate you want to talk about other matters, but they’re not really for me”. When the reporter asked if Dr Coffey would hear the question, Dr Coffey is reported to have said “I’m conscious that there are some issues, but we are really here today to talk about pensions and climate change”. 

Then, in an interview with Sky News, presenter Kay Burley asked Dr Coffey why she hadn’t previously wanted to discuss Ms Baguma’s case when asked about it. Dr Coffey replied: “I haven’t actually been asked about this lady before, so I don’t know where that’s come from”. 

She continued: “This really is a matter for the Home Office to decide what the immigration status is for each individual” and that people could “apply for changes to the Home Office if they are struggling with aspects of that and the Home Office can make that change so they can get access to public funds”. On neither occasion did Dr Coffey say the words attributed to her in the Facebook posts.

The earliest example of the image we could find was shared on 5 September 2020, and claimed Dr Coffey made this comment on 4 September 2020. We couldn’t find evidence Dr Coffey gave any interviews on this date, nor did she speak in the House of Commons. 

This is not the first time we’ve seen quotes being falsely attributed to politicians or public figures, including now-Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Labour MP Diane Abbott, former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, and Pope Francis. 

False or misleading claims online have the potential to harm individuals, groups and democratic processes and institutions. Online claims can spread fast and far, and are difficult to contain and correct.