Disgraced Labour MP Kate Osamor has vowed to stay in her council house despite her generous salary

Disgraced Labour MP Kate Osamor has vowed to stay in her council house despite her generous salary.

The party's former international development spokesman lives in a north London home worth £750,000 along with her former councillor son, who was recently convicted of drugs offences.

The council house is in Haringey, where there are 10,000 families waiting for a home. Miss Osamor, 50, continues to live there despite earning a salary of £77,379 plus expenses. Her son Ishmael earns up to £43,835 as his mother's chief of staff.

On Monday evening the defiant MP tweeted that everyone deserves a 'home for life'.

She wrote: 'On Christmas Eve, I will always remember that nearly 30yrs ago I was a homeless single mum who secured a tenancy to my home. Everyone deserves a home for life. I remain proud, not ashamed, to be in social housing.'

The comment will be controversial because many believe that people who earn large amounts should consider buying their own home privately – thus freeing up social housing for the needy.

The pair would not be eligible to apply for social housing now because of their combined wage. There is no upper limit to earnings once tenants have been placed in a property.

In Miss Osamor's borough of Haringey, 3,000 are living in temporary accommodation, with some families living together in one room.

Her son Ishmael, 29, is still in his Commons job despite being caught with £2,500 of ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and cannabis at the Bestival music festival in Dorset in September last year. Ishmael Osamor, who admitted three counts of possession with intent to supply and one count of possession, was ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work and to pay £400 prosecution costs.

Ms Osamor's son Ishmael, pictured, resigned from Haringey council after he was convicted of drugs offences

Following his conviction, he stepped down from Haringey Council.

Miss Osamor resigned from her Shadow Cabinet role earlier this month after it emerged that she had known more about her son's case than she had said.

She had claimed she had not known about it until he was sentenced in October – but it was discovered that she had written to the judge to plead for a short sentence.

When it became clear that the pair were living in a council house, Twitter users were furious.

Resham Kotecha wrote: 'This is absolutely ridiculous. There's a massive waiting list. Move out and let someone on the list have this home.

'You earn more than enough and should make way for someone who actually needs social housing.'