Member

As an MP in the Blair/Brown years, I saw pretty well every council house endowed with new doors and windows, add-ons, radiators, extensions and fencing. The 1983 general election was terrifying. The brilliant Environment Secretary, now Lord Heseltine, had instituted the right to buy. Houses that had been bought were instantly smartened up most distinctively. Someone of my political persuasion approaching that door in the general election found the reception hostile and his Lordship did not get that vote.