By SHARON CHURCHER Brown's richest minister Shaun Woodward His constituents may be struggling to pay the mortgages on their homes but it seems Britain’s richest MP, Shaun Woodward, has no such concerns about the credit crunch. The Northern Ireland Secretary and his wife, Sainsbury’s heiress Camilla, have built a fabulous £5million retreat on Mustique, the private island in the Caribbean famed as a hedonistic playground for the super-rich. Their luxurious new holiday home has six bedrooms, a media room, games room, gym and a one-bedroom guest cottage with its own plunge pool. It has a stunning view across forested slopes to the Caribbean. With an estimated fortune of more than £40million, the Woodwards already own homes in France, the Hamptons – a chic Long Island beach resort area near New York – and a terrace house in his Merseyside constituency of St Helens South. Mr Woodward also has the use of several well-appointed official rooms in Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland. He sold Sarsden House, his 500 acre Oxfordshire estate, for £24 million in 2006. The new mountain-top home, named Humming Bird, has been under construction for the past three years. ‘You can’t fault Shaun and Camilla when it comes to investments,’ one acquaintance of the Minister said last night. ‘They could turn around and sell Humming Bird tomorrow for £20million. ‘But whether this will help Shaun’s political image is something else. He is always saying he’s a big fan of Gordon Brown but you have to think that Brown will consider this a pretty embarrassing move.’ The Humminbird villa in Mustique, which has a panoramic view of the Caribbean Sea The Woodwards have already thrown a house-warming party at Humming Bird. ‘It was an incredible evening,’ one guest recalled. ‘Bryan Adams [the Canadian rocker] was there and Mick Jagger’s daughter Georgia May, who wore itty-bitty hot pants. There was champagne served by staff in white tuxedos and most of us got a bit drunk. The Woodwards really get into the spirit of things on Mustique.’ Labour MP Shaun Woodwards also has rooms at Hillsborough Castle (left) and a home in St Helens The MP, who defected to Labour from the Conservatives in 1999, has been impervious to criticism by some of his Labour colleagues, who dislike his opulent lifestyle. Shaun Woodward's house near New York Mr Woodward sold Sarsden House for £24 millionShaun Woodward defies credit crunch: £5 million island villa for Brown's richest Minister
Last updated at 1:40 AM on 14th December 2008
Sunday 14 December 2008
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