Yes my father is an ex-Etonian author, but he denied paternity, says Jolyon Maugham
Devereux Chambers’ Jolyon Maugham QC has come out swinging against Twitter trolls who doubted his working class background.
The top tax barrister has been faced with an onslaught of online abuse in recent weeks following his involvement in a number of Brexit legal challenges, some examples of which are embedded below.
@JolyonMaugham it makes me feel good to know like Gina Miller you'll be looking over your shoulder for the rest of your days, traitor!
— John Briggs (@jabdc5) December 11, 2016
I'd rather shove my fist up my sphincter and suck it like a Werthers than help an undemocratic, retarded cuntweasel like you https://t.co/ZQlAZWs3hv
— 83457 (@BeastInTheHead) December 11, 2016
This week, a number of tweeters rounded in on his claim he is from a working class background. In his blog’s ‘About Me’ section, Durham graduate Maugham said:
I had a difficult time at home and, from the age of 16, supported myself as a cleaner and then a secretary. At 17, I came to England [from New Zealand] initially living with an old family friend in a pit village in the North East where my grandfather’s family had lived. I worked for several years, initially as a clerk, at the BBC where I wrote a play for Radio 4 and a feature for Radio 3, before studying law. I feel keenly the need for more voices in public debate who have experienced poverty, who do not come from privileged backgrounds, and who view public policy as it impacts on people’s real lives.
But it seems the Twitter trolls can’t accept this, particularly Vote Leave’s Scottish “spokesman” Jack Montgomery.
“I'm still Joly from the block” claims millionaire QC who lives in historic windmill. (No working-class parents named a son ‘Jolyon’, ever.) https://t.co/3Ts5GBCc0M
— Jack Montgomery (@JackBMontgomery) December 13, 2016
@modernsoulrec At the BBC and writing radio dramas by 17 after cleaning and working as a secretary for a year, tops? #TheStruggleIsReal
— Jack Montgomery (@JackBMontgomery) December 13, 2016
A wave of abuse followed.
@JolyonMaugham On what basis does a millionaire QC claim to be working class? A few months working as a "cleaner" as a teenager?
— Wakeupworld (@wakeupworld15) December 13, 2016
@JackBMontgomery @Stop_The_EU The only time he went round a block, he was chauffeur-driven and his mother disinfected him afterwards. pic.twitter.com/6YJeTu4EZO
— English Seaside (@englishseaside1) December 13, 2016
@dreamerbfc @JackBMontgomery @Stop_The_EU He's probably crowdfunding a lawsuit, needs his own money for his £million windmill.
— Flemming White (@voxvot) December 13, 2016
Eventually Montgomery asked Maugham whether he is the son of David Benedictus — an Eton-educated author and theatre director, whose most recent work is a Winnie the Pooh novel.
So not true you're son of David Benedictus, the famous Eton-educated author who tutored the Rothschild children? (May not be, I don't know.) https://t.co/00obJOOlQu
— Jack Montgomery (@JackBMontgomery) December 13, 2016
The leading barrister has remained dignified in his silence throughout the Twitter abuse, but it seems Montgomery’s question hit a nerve. Not only did he apparently block the Leave campaigner, he also made a series of tweets in seeming response.
As my parentage seems to be a matter of interest to some, yes, (as is a matter of public record) David Benedictus is my father. 1/2
— Jo Maugham QC (@JolyonMaugham) December 14, 2016
He saw me first when I was 17. He Knew but barely knew my mother. She was then 20 and – the first in her family – at university. 2/2
— Jo Maugham QC (@JolyonMaugham) December 14, 2016
My mother received from him – iirc, I have the letters somewhere – for two or three years, £5 a week.
— Jo Maugham QC (@JolyonMaugham) December 14, 2016
As was then the Etonian style, when dealing with women of a lower social class, he denied paternity.
— Jo Maugham QC (@JolyonMaugham) December 14, 2016
His confessional has been met with a wave of support. One tweeter encouraged Maugham to ignore the “fools”, while another said she “never doubted” him.