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It came as no surprise to me - and I bet to you - when Labour this week accused the high end agency Knight Frank of scaremongering by issuing a leaflet explaining' the consequences of electing a party that might introduce a mansion tax.

But why didn't Knight Frank simply come out and say it thinks Labour is wrong on this policy and people should not vote for the party

After all, the agency reportedly made a donation to the Conservatives at the last election.

If the likes of Victoria Wood and Myleene Klass - who as celebrities lead a potentially 'here-today, gone-tomorrow' public profile - feel they can come out, respectively, for and against mansion tax, why on earth can't estate agents

Instead the Knight Frank letter reads, rather lamely: Ahead of the General Election .... you will no doubt be considering the implications of the result on your investments and assets.

And when Knight Frank's research chief, Liam Bailey, was questioned on the subject of the letter by The Guardian newspaper he insisted that the agency was not being party political but was merely interested in is what these proposals mean for the market.

It strikes me that with statements like that, Knight Frank might just be seen to lack the cojones of its arch rival and fellow posh agent, Savills, which last month made no bones about where it stood on the party politics of the mansion tax.

Its own research chief, Lucian Cook, wrote a paper that successfully demolished the case for the tax and published it through the Centre for Policy Studies. As the CPS was set up by Margaret Thatcher, no one can really be in any doubt about the politics of Savills and Cook - at least on the issue of mansion tax.

Knight Frank also lacks the courage of Belvoir which this week launched a campaign against Labour on the basis of its plan to cap rents and possible ban letting agency fees.

And while we are listing those agents that have come out' let's add Black Brick, a buying agency, which has tweeted its support for the Conservative Party.

So should agents nail their colours to the mast in these most political of times, as Savills and Belvoir have done Or should they play safe, as Knight Frank has done.

I back the former approach - you should say what you think and not pussyfoot around.

And I say that even though I, as a journalist, must keep my own party allegiance to myself.

There may be commercial fall out of course, and that is presumably what Knight Frank is concerned about.

After all, last time around in 2010 the Conservatives received only 36 per cent of the votes cast by those who turned out - and as the turnout was only two-thirds of the electorate, we are talking about only around 23 per cent of the adult population as a whole voting Tory.

That means there are 77 per cent of the adult population who might just think that they will take their house selling business elsewhere if they dislike Knight Frank's politics.

But do people really think like that

I suspect those with political allegiances (hey, even those in favour of the mansion tax) want most of all to deal with people with conviction and principles, with people who not only say what they mean but mean what they say.

And that includes estate agents.

Actor Michael Sheen - whose recent much-reported speech at a pro-NHS rally had swipes at Labour and Conservatives in equal measure - said his most passionate wish was that in these sterile sound-bite days people should believe in something...anything.

And after all, if an agency is honest about what it believes in, perhaps it may be considered similarly honest about selling homes and dealing with clients, too.

*Editor of Estate Agent Today and Letting Agent Today, Graham can be found tweeting about all things property @PropertyJourn

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