Baroness Uddin Keeping it in the Family?

I wrote on Tuesday about Baroness Uddin, Britain's first female Muslim peer, claiming over £100,000 of expenses for a flat which she'd never lived in but insisted was her main home.

It then emerged that she was living in subsidised accommodation normally reserved for key workers - a four bedroom house in Wapping which she rented for £104 a week from Spitalfields Housing Association.

Uddin, the spoilsport, has hired a libel lawyer and tried to enforce a press blackout on reporting of her situation as she is (hopefully) investigated, but I will speculate anyway. After all, she's pocketed well over £100,000 of our cash, so we might as well get something out of it.

How did a Baroness who currently holds two high-powered jobs and had served on countless boards of directors in the past get such a house, normally reserved for those who need the help she so often pontificates about?

Perhaps this link to Spitalfields Housing Association's 'staff structure' can shed some light:

* Ala Uddin - Vice-Chair

* Faruque Uddin - Housing Officer

* Abdus Uddin - Assistant Maintenance Officer

Coincidence, no?

Hat tip: Old Holborn