“Non-homeowners have no freedom, claims Gummer”

From Mortgage Stategy:

John Gummer, the former Conservative MP for Suffolk Coastal and the chairman of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries has claimed non-homeowners have no freedom. Speaking at the AMI annual dinner last night he said home ownership has been one of the main strengths of Britain.

He told the audience: “Home ownership is the basis of freedom, people who do not own their own home do not have independence… AMI is a proper representation of a great profession, which is crucial to the property owning democracy in the UK and as such makes a bigger contribution to freedom than perhaps any other profession.”

Gummer claimed people who dealt with him throughout his time in parliament could be much tougher with him if they owned their own home. He adds: “Home ownership gives people who otherwise would not have a stake in society a real stake, it is the basis for any democratic system, it’s because people own something that matters that they are able to proceed.”

Absolutely bizarre.

That is the most extreme kind of deluded Home-Owner-Ist ranting I have seen for ages. As plenty of people in the comments point out, while it’s nice to own a home to live in, it’s not nice having a massive mortgage debt hanging over you. I’d be tempted to turn the whole thing on its head to show what Home-Owner-Ism is really all about, to wit:

Gummer claimed people who dealt with him throughout his time in parliament could be more or less ignored if they were only tenants. He adds: “Home ownership gives politicians a stake in people in whom they otherwise would not have a stake, it is the basis for any system of oppression, it’s because people own something that they think matters that we can threaten them and bully them.”

Spotted by Jack C at HPC.

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