UK cabinet minister in ‘cash for favours’ scandal

British cabinet member Robert Jenrick and the “cash for favours” dispute he is embroiled in has become the latest headache for Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson after a difficult few months battling the coronavirus pandemic.

Housing secretary Jenrick, under fire for approving a planning development from businessperson Richard Desmond, who later donated money to the Conservative Party, released documents on Wednesday showing he had exchanged text messages with Desmond before the decision.

Jenrick said in the House of Commons on Wednesday that any claims that his view on the construction project could have been swayed by meeting Desmond were “wrong” and “outrageous”. He said he knew “nothing” about the donation.

The closeness of Jenrick’s contact with Desmond adds to the controversy over the episode, which has sparked calls for his resignation. Despite winning a strong majority six months ago, the poll standing of Johnson’s Conservative Party has declined with the UK recording one of the world’s highest coronavirus death tolls.

Questions about Jenrick’s actions come after the media frenzy over key Johnson aide Dominic Cummings allegedly breaking lockdown rules as if there was one rule for the governing elite and another for the masses.

The opposition Labour Party accused Jenrick of rushing through approval of Desmond’s project — a 500-apartment, 44storey development at Westferry Printworks, a former printing plant in east London — to help Desmond avoid paying a new community infrastructure levy that was to be imminently introduced. The charge would have cost Desmond at least £30m.

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