This week, former Conservative Party MP Nadhim Zahawi took to X to display his faux outrage over a problem his own government created: homelessness. He tweeted a photo of a person sleeping rough on a street in Mayfair – one of the richest parts of London.
Nadhim Zahawi: anyone but the Tories’ fault
Obviously he failed to mention that it was his party creating the cruel policies which have forced thousands more people into homelessness; all in the name of making a dig at the Labour Party mayor of London, Sadiq Khan:
This is now in Mayfair, just walked passed. what is going on @MayorofLondon this can’t be right. 💔 pic.twitter.com/rKI3GaTFdr
— Nadhim Zahawi (@nadhimzahawi) September 3, 2024
What a weird, unaware take. Homelessness has soared over the last decade under the governance of your party. Did you stop to help? Do you think it’s particularly sad because it’s in a rich area? Pathetic exploiting this poor soul’s plight to have a jab at Khan
— Jemma Forte (@jemmaforte) September 3, 2024
During 14 years of Tory rule, homelessness figures more than doubled. According to Shelter, over 280,000 people are currently experiencing homelessness.
The Tories set a target of ending rough sleeping by 2024 – which is only the most visible form of homelessness.
However, figures rose by over 25% in the last year alone. The annual rough sleeping snapshot found that on a single night, an estimated 3,898 people were sleeping on the streets. This compared to 3,069 a year before.
I bet @nadhimzahawi wish he hadn’t posted this now! Absolute muppet. What’s so appalling Nadhim? Homelessness or homelessness in Chelsea? You lot had 14 years to sort this out 😡 https://t.co/6IFyGqoPeK
— Helen Nelson (@HelNel3105) September 4, 2024
I love you point out the symptoms and fail to see the cause… Tell me Nadhim… After 14yrs of Government… Do you own a mirror?
— Clifford 🇪🇺 (@holte) September 3, 2024
Political point scoring
It seems that over his years in government, Nadhim Zahawi visited several homelessness charities. It’s a shame he didn’t learn anything from those visits or see enough to actually vote on changing cruel policies:
Heard inspiring stories from young people and the great work @StBasilsCharity is doing to support young people at risk of homelessness this morning pic.twitter.com/kcysSsaIp7
— Nadhim Zahawi (@nadhimzahawi) October 26, 2018
Then, with representatives of charities of those experiencing homelessness such as @crisis_uk, joined by colleagues including @EddieHughes4WN (2/3) pic.twitter.com/albhQvNfvh
— Nadhim Zahawi (@nadhimzahawi) March 22, 2021
Consistently, Zahawi has voted for reductions in spending on welfare benefits – including to disability benefits. He has also voted for a stricter asylum system, phasing out secure tenancies, and overall, higher taxation rates. All of these lead to higher levels of homelessness:
I love you point out the symptoms and fail to see the cause… Tell me Nadhim… After 14yrs of Government… Do you own a mirror?
— Clifford 🇪🇺 (@holte) September 3, 2024
A disgraced multi-millionaire tax thief getting upset at the indignity of having to see a poor person within his Mayfair bubble.
You are the one who isn’t right. You are everything wrong with this country.
— thelefttake (@thelefttake) September 3, 2024
Specsavers, anyone?
Clearly, Nadhim Zahawi only cares about homelessness when it spills into his rich little bubble. Which happens to be so far removed from reality – because in other areas of London, such as Westminster where funnily enough Zahawi should have spent a lot of time – the problem is visible for anyone with eyes to see:
“Homelessness, where I can see it? Absolutely disgusting. No not “homelessness” the fact it is near me. I shouldn’t have to deal with the results of my politics” – Nadhim Zahawi, 2024 https://t.co/axwGEtYGEK
— James Thornhill (@journothornhill) September 3, 2024
Surely not MAYFAIR I mean, what a nerve… 🙄and how deeply upsetting for the wealthy residents.. surely they could go and be homeless somewhere else ( sarcasm emoji). Just out of interest did you help them? https://t.co/BwQi9xvS8F
— Deborah Meaden 🇺🇦 (@DeborahMeaden) September 3, 2024
A vile, dehumanising post. He’s only upset because he thinks homelessness doesn’t belong in Mayfair. He’s quite happy with it elsewhere or he would have done something about it when he was in government. Instead he spent public money keeping his horses warm.
Show some humanity. https://t.co/wELIIMkVHl
— Rob 🌈 (@rotster) September 3, 2024
From his visits to homelessness charities over the years, Zahawi should also have known that taking photos of people experiencing homelessness without their consent is not ok. First of all, it puts whoever is in that photo at risk:
Publicly sharing the location of a person experiencing homelessness is the exact opposite way to help. It actually puts them at risk. https://t.co/7wpDwiNPJk
— Amnesty UK (@AmnestyUK) September 4, 2024
However, more than that it adds to the stigmatising discourse that surrounds homelessness.
Many charities, including the Centre for Homelessness Impact are working towards challenging negative representations of people experiencing homelessness. Part of their work is using real images of various types of homelessness, but with full consent – which is often not the case.
If Zahawi’s shameless point-scoring piccie, putting a person experiencing homelessness at risk wasn’t bad enough, someone on X noted that he chose to take that photo, rather than offer help:
and there are no excuses for taking a photograph of someone experiencing homelessness without consent. You could have intervened, checked whether they were ok, informed a homelessness charity. Instead you stole their image and used it to make a cheap political point.
— Davenant 📸 (@MarcDavenant) September 4, 2024
Nadhim Zahawi: Tory profiteering
Nadhim Zahawi’s astonishing levels of cognitive dissonance were also plain to see, given his disgusting profiteering when he was in government:
If you’re a millionaire walking past an individual experiencing homelessness you have three options.
1) take a photo and tweet it.
2) help the individual.
3) stop hoarding wealth, stop avoiding paying your fair share of tax, and realise that you are the problem. https://t.co/ZVp3aZyOHQ
— Harry Eccles (@Heccles94) September 4, 2024
This from a cunt who was part of the government that robbed billions from the public, created the worst inflation in living memory , created a housing crisis that has lead to more homelessness in modern history of the uk. All together now, @nadhimzahawi go Fuck yourself! https://t.co/PwLydAe51N
— Topboy33331 (@topboysniff) September 4, 2024
This is from the same millionaire who claimed thousands in tax-payer expenses to heat his stables at his second home. I’m sure the country will breathe a deep sigh of relief when they realise Zahawi’s horses are warm enough:
Nadhim Zahawi the multi-millionaire who claimed £6,000 a year from the tax payer to pay for the electricity to run the stables at his £1 million second home, the highest energy claim in Parliament. He also voted against free school meals. https://t.co/Zt4I4tQpjz
— Jon Jones (@JonJonesSnr) September 3, 2024
There are a lot of things that can’t be right, you hypocrite. pic.twitter.com/ZLngQ07qW9
— Simon Scarrow (@SimonScarrow) September 3, 2024
It is beyond belief that a literal millionaire has the cheek to call out Sadiq Khan for fourteen years of Tory policies.
Added to that, doing it in such a dehumanising way with zero regard for the person in the photo for cheap political point scoring is profoundly worse.
However, its unfortunately not surprising from a heartless former Tory MP who has profited off of years of oppressing marginalised communities in the very same way.
He had made it clear this is not about homelessness. This is about it spilling over into his cushty little neighbourhood and ruining the pretty pavement.
Feature image via
