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Baldrick would propose an idiotic yet ultimately ingeniously cunning plan, but motormouth Ben Elton’s strategy is simpler.

The comic genius who taunted Thatcher in the 1980s is hoping Cameron’s clobbered in 2015.

He’s rejoined the Labour Party, donated to it for the first time in 15 years and is scathing about whining rich celebs.

The state-educated enfant terrible behind TV gold such as Blackadder and The Young Ones worries doors are closing on bright kids unless they come from rich homes.

“I don’t want gangs coming breaking my windows in 20 years when they haven’t got a stake,” says Elton.

“There are going to be kids who have no stake in society, property or pension.

“Not the underclass – these will be ordinary kids who can’t find a well-paid, secure job and earn enough to buy a house.

"What does Cameron think is going to happen to the young people locked out? I don’t think Labour has a magic wand but they are more aware of the problem.”

(Image: Philip Coburn / Daily Mirror)

So he’s given Labour £10,000 to fight the May 7 election against a Conservative Party bankrolled in large part by speculators, spivs and tax avoiders.

The gift is Elton’s first since he became disillusioned with Tony Blair’s New Labour, including over the war in Iraq.

He sheepishly recalls backing the invasion after believing the Prime Minister’s assurances about Weapons of Mass Destruction.

And Elton’s braced for another onslaught from critics on the Right of British politics, the new

donation another excuse to attack a man they see as a hate figure.

Because the boy from gritty Catford in south-east London doesn’t play by Tory rules. The political satirist hasn’t forgotten where he came from.

Success as a comedian, writer, director, actor and playwright means he’s loaded. He, however, never went down the HSBC Swiss dodgy account route.

In Britain the poor are accused by the Right of political envy if they question the indefensible obscene wealth of a privileged few.

And Elton’s dubbed a champagne socialist for recognising he should pay more tax because he earns more.

(Image: Mirrorpix)

“I have been very fortunate so I think I should make a bigger contribution,” he tells me on one of his regular visits to London.

“Nobody likes paying tax but I prefer it to living in a community that’s being divided and is quite frankly unBritish.

“I find it weird that people suggest there’s something weird or even hypocritical in wealthy people like me voting Labour.

“I wouldn’t be a better person if I said ‘Ha, ha, I’m rich and don’t care about people less fortunate than myself’.”

Elton, 55, lives most of the year in Australia with his three children and Aussie musician wife Sophia.

He met her while touring Down Under with Rik Mayall in 1987, when union rules dictated the pair be supported by a local band. “I’ve always loved the labour movement,” he laughs.

They’ve kept the family home in north London and intend to return to Britain when the kids leave their – state – schools.

Elton, who has dual Australian and British nationality, is quick to point out he puts his money where his mouth is.

“I pay tax in Australia, but I pay most tax in Britain,” he says.

He has no time for moaners lucky enough to own houses worth upwards of £2million who bellyache as if Labour’s proposed mansion tax is the 21st Century equivalent of Henry VIII ransacking monasteries.

The star is embarrassed the place he bought for £650,000 in the 1990s rocketed in value to £3million.

“That’s £2.5million without me getting out of bed,” he says shamefacedly.

Elton thinks he and the other 0.5% of owners in the top bracket, including celebrities and ex-footballers, should pay up and shut up.

poll loading Should people living in expensive homes pay mansion tax? 2000+ VOTES SO FAR YES NO

“I made a lot of money telling knob gags. Myleene Klass made a lot of money taking a shower in a bikini,” he says.

“Sol Campbell was wrong to call it a tax on aspiration. If your aspiration is making money on property inflation, then it’s not a very noble aspiration.

"You can see an increase in the number of people living in doorways. They disappeared under Labour and are coming back.

(Image: Rex)

“Making money from property inflation is dividing socially those who have a stake and those who don’t.”

Labour’s Ed Balls dubbed Russell Brand a “pound shop Ben Elton” after the long-haired, self-styled revolutionary took a pop at the Shadow Chancellor.

The dig was a play on Brand’s dismissal of UKIP’s Nigel Farage as a pound shop Enoch Powell.

Elton looks pained as I remind him Brand claims all politicians are the same and lectured the young that voting was pointless.

“I love Russell Brand,” he says. “I like so much of what he does and he’s a very funny comedian but he’s wrong to imply all politicians are the same and that there’s no point in voting.

“The only people who will suffer from a low voter turnout are the very people whose lives Russell wants to improve.”

In the past Elton voted and donated Green but he sees May 7 as a choice between Labour and the Conservatives.

“If it was a local election I would consider voting Green but in a national election I urge everybody to vote Labour,” he says.

“Not all Tories are bastards. Nonetheless I believe the Conservative Party is creating ever higher barriers to social mobility in this country.

(Image: Daily Mirror)

“When I was a kid in the 70s I didn’t know anyone who went to private school. I went to an old-fashioned grammar but I wasn’t at Eton.

"My kids go to state schools. We happen to believe that a state education is good for them, being part of the community.

"Lots of my friends send their kids to private schools and I love them. But it’s self-evident that social mobility is halting.”

Elton sympathises with Labour’s culture spokesman Chris Bryant who was slagged off by James Blunt, a product of £33,000-a-year Harrow, for bemoaning the choking of working-class talent.

“Chris Bryant was right. He was wrong to name James Blunt and Eddie Redmayne. I understand why James Blunt felt personally offended. That’s not what we are talking about,” says Elton.

“But a kid going to a state school would feel they had less chance of making it today than in the 1970s.”

Like Ed Miliband’s, Elton’s father fled the Nazis to make a home in Britain, rising to be an acclaimed academic.

Elton doesn’t dismiss voters’ worries about immigration, arguing issues such as problems with public services need fixing, but he’s concerned UKIP’s politics of fear changes Britain for the worse.

(Image: Philip Coburn / Daily Mirror)

“I feel very strongly about Britain’s history of welcoming people” he says. “I always used to say I’m not angry, I’m passionate. I love Britain.

"It’s where I was born. It’s a very special country for its remarkable tolerance and it’s able to give people a chance but these qualities are in danger, so I feel more patriotic. But that’s not anger.”

The political satirist in Elton would lampoon an occasionally awkward Miliband as “Odd Ed” if the Labour leader was a Tory.

The approaching election, he insists, isn’t about personalities but vital policies and important politics.

“I don’t care what people look like. I care about the policies that they want for Britain,” he says.

“All Opposition leaders look pathetic. Power gives gravitas – just look at Cameron!”