It's later been compounded by the fact that another Tory, Andrew Bridgen, by arguing that Rees-Mogg's point was that, and I quote, "... what he’s failed to realise is that in a life-threatening and stressful situation, most people, most of the public, will probably defer to the advice of an authority figure ... What he’s actually saying is he would have made a better decision than the authority figures that gave that advice."
Which is, at the very least, piling on the insensitivity.