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Robert Jenrick goes toff vigilante – and it backfires worse than George Clooney’s Batman

Robert Jenrick, Shadow Lord Chancellor and wannabe vigilante, has caused a stir on social media. He is releasing a video showing him on a weird caped crusader warpath about ‘fare-dodgers’ on the London underground. All he’s missing is a cape:

‘I’m both Robert and Jenrick. Not because I have to be, now because I choose to be’

Robert Jenrick is claiming the reaction to his video shows the Left are “out of touch with the public on crime”. Which, by the way, he filmed without permission from TfL.

However, crime is something he’s all too familiar with.

Previously, he admitted helping a Conservative Party donor avoid a £45m tax bill by rushing through Richard Desmond’s luxury housing development, a day before a community infrastructure levy came into force.

He claimed the scheme would not be viable if the developer had to pay the tax. Importantly, authorities would have used the money to fund public services in Tower Hamlets, one of the country’s most deprived areas.

You either die a villain or live long enough to see yourself become one

So, Robert Jenrick is okay with Tory donors avoiding £45m tax bills. But if working-class Bob avoids a £3 tube fare, he should be locked up?

This is the same man who, in 2020, claimed over £100,000 in expenses for a third home in his constituency of Newark.

In the same year, the Public Accounts Committee claimed that Robert Jenrick had awarded his constituency funding as part of an “opaque” and “not impartial” process.

He also ignored government lockdown restrictions during the pandemic by travelling 150 miles to his second home in Hertfordshire.

He’s worrying too much about people not paying train fares. Especially for a man with so many homes, and at least one car (which cameras caught him speeding in).

Fear is a tool to Robert Jenrick

Of course, the rules don’t apply to Tories. And no one is falling for Robert Jenrick pretending to find a moral compass.

Jenrick’s constituency, Newark, has a higher crime rate than London. Which begs the question, why is he not focusing his apparent excess of time and energy on solving problems for the people who (stupidly) elected him?

What’s next? Will he show up and start enforcing unpaid TV licenses?

The rules only apply when there is a political point to make. Otherwise? Do what you want. As long as Robert Jenrick and his rich pals get away with millions in tax avoidance, while poor people get locked up for petty crimes.

Feature image via the Canary

By HG

This post was originally published on Canary.