Ex-Labour foreign secretary David Miliband attracted worldwide attention this week after overseeing a protest in London in which 2,500 used life jackets were laid out on the grass in Parliament Square next to a statue of Sir Winston Churchill.
#LifeJacketLondon: a call to action. UK can — and must — do more. Pledge to #ChooseHumanity: https://t.co/0DypmUKixJ #UN4RefugeesMigrants pic.twitter.com/qrm1q0jY1R
— Intnl Rescue Comm UK (@IRCuk) September 20, 2016
The aim of this exercise was to highlight how many refugees have died this year crossing the sea to Europe.
Miliband, the £300,000-a-year chief of the New York-based charity International Rescue Committee, timed his stunt to coincide with this week’s international refugee summit in New York.
There is no doubting the sincerity of the protest and only a fool would pretend the world is not experiencing a migration crisis.
But Miliband’s message seemed to be that Britain must do more to help.
Seriously?
The British government has already pledged to accept 20,000 Syrian refugees from camps in Jordan, Turkey and Labanon.
And figures seen by Heat Street show the UK’s Department for International Development gave Miliband’s charity £80.8 million of British taxpayers’ money last year.
That is the equivalent of just under £222,000 for every day of the year.
Where does Miliband think this money comes from?
It’s clear that some took offence at turning Parliament Square into a site of protest on this particular issue, with one person asking why more isn’t done to help London’s homeless.
All those self righteous bleeding heart's on @SkyNews at #lifejacketlondon why don't u lay sleeping bags down to represent all homeless here
— kingisgod (@biggersi) September 19, 2016
With all this in mind Heat Street asked Miliband, who lives in New York, if it is true that he is renting out his 4-bedroom house in Camden, north London or whether he is following his own lead by allowing some refugees to move in there.
We also asked what he has done to help tackle the refugee crisis in a personal rather than a professional (ie paid) capacity during the last 12 months and whether he has made any personal donations to refugees during that time.
So far he has not responded.
Why won’t he deny he’s renting out his house if he isn’t?
A property in Miliband’s street has just gone up for rent at £9,997 a month but conservative estimates say Miliband is taking about £6,000 a month. Either way, the financial advantage in renting it, as opposed to allowing refugees to move in, is obvious.
Rumours persist that Miliband is praying for a Hillary Clinton victory in November’s election and hoping she will give then him a job thereafter.
If things go his way, he may be renting out his London property for some time.
