Fans mock Lily the champagne socialist landlady
Singer who said she’d take in refugees let £2million home to wealthy diplomats – and now moans she can’t turf them out
SHE famously pledged to take in a refugee after apologising to a migrant child on behalf of the UK when visiting the Calais Jungle camp last year.
But now Lily Allen has been accused of ‘profiteering’ after it emerged that she is instead letting out her flat to wealthy foreigners.
The millionaire singer took to Twitter yesterday to complain that she is unable to move back into the property because her tenants are claiming ‘diplomatic immunity’. She is thought to be referring to her £2million home in Notting Hill, West London.
In the message, which has now been deleted, Miss Allen wrote: ‘Meant to be moving back into my flat this week, but my tenants just dropped that they can’t find anywhere to go up to their standards.
‘Then they said they’re diplomats and have diplomatic immunity and there’s nothing I can do about it.
‘ So, who fancies a family of three for Xmas?’
Her plea comes after the mother-of-two – the daughter of actor Keith Allen and sister to Game of Thrones star Alfie Allen – sold her £4.2million Cotswolds mansion last year after she was hit by a hefty tax bill.
Miss Allen’s tweet sparked a flurry of angry online responses, with many critics branding her a ‘champagne socialist’. Others started using the sarcastic hashtag ‘PrayForLily’ to poke fun at the star.
Twitter user Paul Watson commented: ‘Why do you have paying tenants in your flat, Lily, when you could be housing Syrian refugees?’
Eleanor Black wrote: ‘Welcome to the real world. One major difference, you’ve plenty money – go buy another house.’
Another user said: ‘Just sing outside their front door, that’ll get them shifted in under an hour.’ And in a sarcastic reference to the Live Aid fundraising concert, one commenter said: ‘ Bit of a crazy request, but has anyone got Bob Geldof’s number?
‘I think we need to organise a concert to buy Lily Allen a £4million property this Christmas. She’s homeless and in need.’
Last year the 32-year-old came under fire when she apologised to Calais migrants on Britain’s behalf – before insisting she would ‘ 100 per cent’ take in a refugee herself. She became emotional while meeting with a 13-year- old boy from Afghanistan who had risked his life trying to board UK-bound lorries. The teenager, who said his father lives in Birmingham, had been camped at the since-demolished camp for two months.
The clip was aired on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire show, and prompted some viewers to claim her ‘crocodile tears’ and apology were ‘ridiculous’.
Asked by the presenter if she would take in an unaccompanied child, she replied: ‘100 per cent. Who wouldn’t?’
She added: ‘These children are being displaced – [if] there’s room for people in my house, I’m going to take them in. I think anyone would.’ Critics also accused her of trying to boost her flagging career, with a former British commander who served in Afghanistan saying: ‘She clearly does not have any understanding of the situation’. Miss Allen later hit back by insisting she was only saying sorry to a ‘helpless child for the part this country has played in contributing to his dire situation’. The singer, who will be spending Christmas with her daughters Marnie at Hill fee-paying House and Ethel, in schools Knightsbridge, was including educated which counts Prince Charles among its alumni. She married builder Sam Cooper, the father of her children, in 2011 but they went their separate ways in 2015. She has since been linked to grime DJ Daniel London, with the couple being pictured around London and on holiday in Ibiza together. Under the Diplomatic Privileges Act 1964, diplomats are entitled to immunity administrative British courts, from jurisdiction except the civil in certain of and the circumstances. David Fleming of property legal specialists William Heath & Co, has previously explained how he would always advise a client to be ‘very wary’ of letting a property to a diplomat. It is unclear where Miss Allen has been staying while letting out her flat. Last night there was no one at her Notting Hill property available for comment.
‘Tenants are claiming immunity’