This ulcerous wound will fester for Tories
THE first rule of politics – for local councillors and MPs alike – is that planning decisions are sacrosanct.
From start to finish, the process must be open and free from the taint of bias. No backroom deals or calling in political favours or conducting clandestine conversations. To do otherwise risks destroying the public confidence that gave you your job in the first place.
Sadly, the murky saga of the Westferry Printworks development, which is now inflicting such damage on the Government, strays very far from the ideal.
Through naivety, incompetence or carelessness, the inexperienced Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has been outfoxed by the billionaire developer and former press tycoon Richard Desmond.
And as a result, not only is his career under threat – but the reputation of the Conservative Party is on the brink, too. In fact, it would be entirely understandable if those tens of thousands of so-called ‘Red Wall’ voters, the traditional Labour supporters who switched to Boris Johnson in last year’s general election, now turned their backs on his party for ever.
After all, that’s just what I did in February when I resigned from the Tory Party after Mr Jenrick’s approval of the scheme came to light. Since 2014 I have served on Tower
Hamlets Council as one of two representatives for Canary Wharf, where Mr Desmond’s development is due to be built.
Although the area is naturally Labour territory, I have managed to win and retain the seat as a Conservative because of my record of hard work in the area.
But Mr Jenrick’s actions threw that commitment back in my face. The Government is mistaken if it thinks it has put a lid on the scandal by publishing Mr Jenrick’s correspondence with Mr Desmond.
For on a deeper level, this saga represents an ulcerous wound that will continue to fester for the Tory Party that has long struggled to shake off the image of sleaze. For Mr Johnson, the Westferry scandal is particularly injurious because he won last December’s election with a
firm commitment to social justice and the expansion of social and affordable housing.
It was a message that resonated profoundly in so many former Labour strongholds in the Midlands and the North. And as a result, many turned their backs on long-standing tradition and took a gamble by voting Conservative.
Yet Mr Jenrick has now been exposed playing the same old games, putting the demands of a multi-millionaire before the needs of citizens.
For that reason alone, the Prime Minister should get rid of him – or face alienating his new Tory voters after little more than six months.