Pour one out for the Tories moaning nobody wants to share a flat with them

The Telegraph have published a piece claiming Tories are discriminated against because people don't want them in their flatshares.

Its author claims listings are turning right-wing people away, quoting somebody who was rejected from a flat over a potential clash of politics, and descries the "sinister trend in the rental market" where "Brexiteers and Tories are being routinely warned away".

The article, ironically labelled both "Premium" and plugged as an investigation, is called: "The rise of flatshares where Tories are not welcome… so why is the rental market hostile to Brexiteers?"

It's not gone down well.

The story kicks off with an ominous tale. One person went to view a spare room in Liverpool and got this text afterwards: “I saw you are the leader of the young Conservative party in uni and you support Brexit. We are a very Left-wing house and I think there could be potential clash”.

From this point, things only get darker and more sinister. Of a flat in East London on SpareRoom, Gill says: "The photographs of the flat were delightful, but the advert reads “No Tories”, despite simultaneously asking for the applicant to be a friendly person."

Another listing quickly offends: "It looks like a fun dig, where the tenants describe themselves as a “creative, kinky and active bunch of people”, but they also stipulate “NO TORIES” need apply."

Again, in East London, more horror: "In Dalston, a man asked for a housemate who’s “open-minded and tolerant” before adding “in most cases I couldn’t see myself living with a Tory”.

The article also moans about vegans preferring to live with other vegans, and says, somehow, this whole saga is reflective of how Tories apparently can't be themselves at uni.

Yes, you could tell me, "Can't they just express their worries in peace? Aren't you just proving their point?"

Sure, it entirely possible this piece was commissioned and written entirely to get a rise out of me. But fuck it, I'm biting.

Imagine how tone deaf you've got to be to make out Conservatives are being discriminated against in the housing market because nobody wants to live with a raging Tory, all while Tory policies are being ruled as unlawful for causing – you guessed it – discrimination in the housing market.

Conservative "Hostile Environment" (that was the actual name) policies tried to reduce the amount of immigrants in the country by forced landlords to effectively act as border control agents. Landlords faced prosecution if they rented to somebody they suspected didn't have the right to rent in the UK.

Research found the "Right to Rent" rules made it harder to rent a house if you have a foreign-sounding name, or even if you didn't have a British passport. The high court found the policy was causing racial discrimination in the housing market.

Not a mention of that, though. File this next to the guy who said it's harder to come out as a Tory than as gay.

Please, pour one out for the Tories, the true victims of discrimination.