Shirley Porter - Biography

Biography

In a review of the biography of Dame Shirley Porter by Andrew Hosken (see "See also"), Nicholas Lezard in The Guardian described her in the following terms: "She remains, by a considerable margin, the most corrupt British public figure in living memory, with the possible exception of Robert Maxwell". In a London Review of Books review of the same book by Jenny Diski, Diski called the Homes for Votes scandal Porter's "biggest, stupidest and most cynical act of corruption". Diski, without justifying Porter’s behaviour, accused many of Porter's critics of "snobbery and an undeclared racism". She cited the "echo of something more than simple class snobbery in the judgments made of her voice and decor".

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