diff --git a/generator/python.ml b/generator/python.ml
index 70dc076a5..9744b8f1c 100644
--- a/generator/python.ml
+++ b/generator/python.ml
@@ -738,7 +738,7 @@ class GuestFS(object):
             raise ClosedHandle(\"GuestFS: method called on closed handle\")
 
     def _maybe_convert_to_dict(self, r):
-        if self._python_return_dict == True:
+        if self._python_return_dict:
             r = dict(r)
         return r
 
diff --git a/python/t/tests_helper.py b/python/t/tests_helper.py
index 8493c40e8..4ae1375ae 100644
--- a/python/t/tests_helper.py
+++ b/python/t/tests_helper.py
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ def skipUnlessLibvirtHasCPointer():
         return unittest.skip("could not import libvirt")
     # Check we're using the version of libvirt-python that has
     # c_pointer() methods.
-    if not "c_pointer" in dir(libvirt.open(None)):
+    if "c_pointer" not in dir(libvirt.open(None)):
         return unittest.skip("libvirt-python doesn't support c_pointer()")
     return lambda func: func