Grant Shapps sets aside funds to destroy Ringo's house after saving it

Oh, pity the politician who would save Ringo Starr's first home. You'll recall our old friend Flo Clucas who announced she'd preserved the house for the ages, only to mumble quietly when asked how that was going.

Then last year, Grant Shapps popped up to call a halt to the demolition, or rather to indicate he might not be unhappy if it didn't get knocked down. And this year, Shapps popped again to garner a bit of good publicity by announcing the previously-announced policy all over again.

Trouble is, he's mannaged to bugger things up and even while he was waving for the cameras, his department was busily releasing the funds to, erm, knock down the estate.

Grant Shapps saving Ringo's house. Not pictured: Grant Shapps signing off on destroying Ringo's house. Image: DOSaCDCLG CC-BY-ND

The Telegraph reported on the resulting court case earlier this week:

Grant Shapps, the former Housing Minister, accidentally signed off a regeneration project without realising it would demolish the house in which Ringo Starr was born, a court heard today.

Nine Madryn Street, in Dingle, was set to be knocked down by Liverpool City Council as part of regeneration plans for the Welsh Streets area of the city.

But a court heard the Conservative Party Chairman had not been informed that house would be bulldozed alongside 5,000 terraced homes as part of a £35.5 million regeneration project.

Perhaps it was one of Shapp's alter-egos who'd signed off on the deal? Or maybe he'd left his ministerial computer unattended, with a password of 1234 and a person or persons unknown "hacked" into the system?

The whole thing is now heading for judicial review, and at least Shapps is now simply chair of the Tory party, where if he makes a similar blunder he won't be damaging anything important to the nation.