Guido pointed out this week that among Keir Starmer’s crop of hand-picked candidates is Andrew Lewin, who works as chief spin doctor for the Clarion Housing Group, which is condemned by the housing ombudsman as one of the worst social landlords in Britain. Lewin’s local campaign is backed by Unison, which is hilariously in a protracted battle with Clarion over fire and rehire…
It turns out Lewin isn’t the only Clarion representative vying to enter a Labour government. Oana Olaru-Holmes is Labour’s candidate in Bromley and Biggin Hill – she works as Head of the Chief Executive’s Office. A former Labour staffer and Sadiq Khan aide, Olaru-Holmes runs affairs for CEO Claire Miller, herself in receipt of a whopping £441,224 in salary and other benefits. Her leaflets in Bromley boast that she is “uniquely positioned to advocate for policies that improve our community’s quality of life” thanks to her “extensive experience in housing”. Some of the most common issues faced by Clarion residents are “rats in their homes, mould which leads to mushrooms growing on the walls, dangerous leaks that run past electric fuse boxes, ceilings that could ‘fall through any minute’, and asbestos”…
Clarion, once condemned by Labour members of the London Assembly for leaving 1,500 estate residents in squalor, will have two senior personnel inside Labour if they both win their seats. Can we expect it to be at the front and centre of Labour’s housebuilding putsch?
Reacting to the news of Jenrick’s sacking at a press conference in Fife, Nigel Farage said:
“I’ll give him a ring this afternoon. Might even buy him a pint.”