Calls for standards probe into Jenrick decision

LABOUR HAS called on the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards to investigate whether Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick breached the code of conduct for members of Parliament over a controversial planning decision.

It follows Mr Jenrick’s move to support a £1bn development in east London backed by Tory donor and former media mogul Richard Desmond.

Mr Jenrick is fighting to keep his job after documents revealed the extent of the contact between he and Mr Desmond before the Cabinet minister signed off on the 1,500-home Westferry Printworks scheme.

Mr Jenrick originally gave the development the go-ahead in January 2020, overruling both Tower Hamlets Council and a planning inspector. He reversed the ruling, following legal action by the council, admitting that what he did was “unlawful by reason of apparent bias”.

The release of a raft of Government documents earlier this week showed text messages between the minister and Mr Desmond after a Tory fundraising event in November.

And a document described the secretary of state as being “insistent” that the project be given the green light before a new levy added millions to the cost.

Labour has called it a “cash for favours scandal”, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson has made it clear he considers the matter to be closed. Mr Jenrick has dismissed allegations as “outrageous” and “wild”.

Labour’s Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary, Steve Reed said: “There are still so many unanswered questions about Robert Jenrick’s unlawful attempt to help Richard Desmond dodge £150m in tax, days before he made a generous donation to the Conservative Party.”

A Downing Street spokesman told a Westminster briefing Mr Jenrick had “set out his position, his account, in public” and “the Prime Minister considers this matter closed.”

The Downing Street spokesman added: “We have been clear that no-one in Number 10 discussed this planning application or appeal with Mr Desmond, or his representatives.”