Michael Meacher is proving himself the perfect custo dian of the environment and, especially, the British countryside and suburbia. He once wrote: "Housing is not, or should not be a status symbol, an object of conspicuous consumption, or a source of market power and wealth. It is a place where individuals and families should be able to live and inter-relate in mutual happiness..." (Socialism with a Human Face, 1982)
As Mark Thomas has revealed on Channel 4, Meacher and his wife now own between nine and 11 residential properties, including the luxury Cascades Court in Wimbledon with flats whose present market value is £300,000 each and let at £700 a week.
Yes, this is the same Michael Meacher who told a fringe meeting at the 1999 Labour Party conference that "People like me who are privileged, should not be in a position to rob other people of a home which is their basic right."
Clearly as a minister in Tony Blair's government, Meacher has preferred to join the robbers!
Outlook