There ain’t no hypocrisy like Labour Party hypocrisy. Sure, fourteen years of Tory rule was built upon foundations of sanctimony, deception and staggering duplicity — nobody is forgetting that in a hurry — but Minister for Homelessness Rushanara Ali evicting tenants from her inner-city townhouse before going on to re-advertise the same four-bedroom property for an extra £700 per month is hypocrisy in its most extreme and vile form.
Rushanara Ali: vile, vile, vile
I don’t want to hear about Rushanara Ali not breaking any rules. I’m sick of hearing pathetic Starmer simps attempting to defend the indefensible, time after time.
Ali’s resignation was very much a sorry-not-sorry affair. But why was Ali afforded the luxury of dictating her own departure? She’s really not that special, and be in no doubt, she will return to a senior ministerial position in due course.
Rushanara Ali, the Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Stepney has previously been vocal about renters’ rights and “private renters being exploited”, yet here she is, exploiting private renters.
Has anybody asked, why didn’t Keir Starmer remove her from government the moment Ali’s hypocrisy was exposed?
Political hypocrisy isn’t a criminal offence, of course. The politicians of today stand on a manifesto of promises and pledges that are ultimately meaningless because they tend to break every commitment in favour of right-wing billionaire media moguls pumping out populist click bait headlines to the gullible masses.
They gain power with lies and they maintain power with lies. A bit of ministerial hypocrisy doesn’t even begin to register on the spectrum of moral abandonment, these days.
Judgement for Rushanara Ali will come.
Not on X, but by the X that is placed next to the candidate that is standing against Ali in her Bethnal Green and Stepney constituency.
Obliterated by Your Party
Early indications are suggesting that she and Labour are getting utterly obliterated by the new Corbyn/Sultana coalition, currently known as Your Party.
I would expect a repeat of this across Labour constituencies that harbour a bought-and-paid-for genocide apologist for an MP. Keir Starmer is also on course to lose his seat to a ‘Your Party’ candidate.
If enough of us work together, anything is possible.
We’re not here to “enable Farage”, deluded, subservient Labourites. We are here to finish Farage. What a shame you cannot say the same.
Weak Keir Starmer will be hoping nest-feathering Ali’s resignation will bring about an end to the scandal. But the embarrassing revelations have piled further pressure on an already-damaged Prime Minister.
The conflict of interests between being a landlord and a politician are numerous and blindingly obvious. A politician already holds significant power.
Why allow them to be in a position where they can create laws and regulations that benefit property owners over renters? We used to call this sort of thing, “corruption”.
There’s nothing to stop a landlord politician from opposing rent controls, tenant protections, or even affordable housing initiatives.
According to the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, around 13% of British parliamentarians are landlords in receipt of rental income exceeding £10,000 per year.
The actual number is likely to be considerably higher, as MPs with rental income below this threshold, even if it’s £9,999 per year, don’t have to declare anything.
Stop the slum landlords and housing associations
If ‘Your Party’ wants a big chunk of the votes of Britain’s 20 million renters, they will ban elected Members of Parliament from being landlords, and they will rebalance the system with policies that benefit tenants, because these unscrupulous landlords have been having it way too easy for way too long.
Don’t get me wrong. Not every single landlord is hellbent on making an immoral killing from the 8.5 million renting households that pay their landlords mortgage.
Just a vast majority of them, in my humble opinion.
So there you go, Jezza, scribble that one down on your notepad, start putting unscrupulous, greedy landlords on notice and give the elected members of parliament — already earning a healthy salary, north of £90,000 per annum — a very simple ultimatum.
They can be a landlord, and they can be an MP, but if we want a system for renters with integrity at its core, they cannot be both. MPs cannot have second jobs, and that includes being a landlord.
Look to Germany?
I welcome the accusations of my thoughts being based in the “politics of envy”, because I am envious of the countries that treat renters with respect and dignity.
The rental laws in Germany heavily favour tenants. Evictions are incredibly difficult for landlords, requiring substantial justification, and tenants can often remain in their homes for years, even if the property is sold.
The Germans also tightly regulate rent increases, particularly in popular areas such as Berlin and Munich where you will find caps on rent increases to prevent these unaffordable spikes.
Germany has a stronger rental culture than most other countries because it sees renting as a stable, long term housing option, rather than a stepping stone that leads to the apparent dream of home ownership.
I have absolutely no confidence in Keir Starmer delivering the progressive housing reforms that are needed to make Britain a renter-friendly country.
Rushanara Ali: a permanent bad taste?
A quick glance at the current opinion polls would suggest I am not alone, and the bad taste in the mouth that has been left behind by the Rushanara Ali revelations is only going to further damage Starmer’s shaky government.
The Conservatives had long enough. Starmer has already proven to be a no-change establishment lickspittle. And who in their right fucking mind would believe the millionaire, Nigel Farage, would ever do anything to make their life better?
The urgent and very real need for a progressive force for good, to challenge this acceptance of a scamming MP doing ‘nothing wrong’, grows greater by the day.
Featured image via the Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.