An MP originally hailing from Peckham has well and truly left his former life of poverty behind and has substituted the council flat of his teenage years, for a £7 million house which he is now planning to sell for more than twice as much.
Adam Afriyie, who is the Conservative MP for Windsor, put his 9 bedroom house up for sale earlier this week, in the hopes of moving his family to west London, closer to his children’s school and his constituency.
Unlike many Conservative MPs Afriyie comes from humble beginnings. He grew up on a council estate in South London, with his brother and 7 half-brothers. As a child he attended Oliver Goldsmith Primary School, perhaps most notoriously known as the school 10 year-old Damilola Taylor, who was stabbed to death, attended. From there Afriyie attended Addey and Stanhope secondary school, however his mother soon realised the limitations of his school and took on an extra night job to put her son through private school for a few years.
Afriyie went on to study Agricultural Economics at Wye College and in 1993 launched his now multi-million pound IT company Connect Support Services.
In 2005, Afriyie won the conservative seat for Windsor, making him the Conservative’s first mixed race MP.
Controversially Afriyie has spoken out in favour of increasing MPs pay, and despite the fact that he has never claimed second home expenses, is highly critical of the UK’s expense system.
“You can’t expect an MP to scrabble around on a salary of £67,000,” he told Newsnight, earlier this year.
As news broke of his million dollar mansion, some criticised Afriyie, questioning why he MP’s need a pay rise if they have million pound homes. However, Afriyie, who is estimated to be worth between £50 and 100 million gains most of his income from his business endeavours. As well as being the chairman of his IT company he also owns two thirds of news company DeHaviland.
On Afriyie’s planned move, a spokesperson said on his behalf: “Adam does not comment on his private life. People move house from time to time.”
