Housing secretary should have resigned after approving Tory donor's 'contentious' property scheme, anti-corruption expert suggests

Robert Jenrick should have resigned over a contentious decision to approve a major property scheme involving a Conservative Party donor, an anti-corruption expert has suggested as the cabinet minister told MPs he acted in “good faith”.

It comes as the housing secretary faced escalating pressure to explain his dealings with Richard Desmond – after it emerged the billionaire property developer made a cash donation to the Tories days after Mr Jenrick unlawfully approved one of his schemes.

Speaking on Monday, the minister said the cabinet secretary is now examining the decision and insisted he was “confident all rules were followed”.

But Elizabeth David-Barrett, a professor of governance and integrity who is also the director of the Centre for the Study of Corruption at the University of Sussex, said: “In most previous governments, Robert Jenrick would have resigned well before now.”

“The questionable conduct that is tolerated and defended in this current government is creating a dangerous new world in which standards in public life are seen as a concept from the past, and personal patronage and loyalty are now prized higher than combatting corruption,” she said.

Professor David-Barrett added: “This is not inevitable or irreversible – but now is time for the government to show moral leadership if it wants to ensure that Britain retains its global reputation in such matters.

“Although Robert Jenrick eventually reversed the decision on the Westferry scheme, under threat of legal action, this should not be the end of the matter.

“If there is no subsequent investigation into alleged misconduct, then the message that sends is that ministers can do whatever they like and just reverse the decision if their actions are questioned. The system needs to be preventive and act as a deterrent.”

Speaking in the Commons on Monday, Mr Jenrick’s opposite number Steve Reed said the housing secretary had been caught up in a “cash for favours” row “that now reaches inside No 10 Downing Street” as he tackled the minister on the issue.

Mr Reed also urged Mr Jenrick’s department to publish all correspondence regarding the Westferry development in east London, and disclose “all conversations with all government ministers and officials”.

In response, Mr Jenrick said the application was a “highly contentious one” that had been contested for many years but was brought to his department “because Tower Hamlets had failed to determine it themselves”.

“I took that decision in good faith with an open mind and I’m confident that all the rules were followed in doing so,” he told MPs.

“It isn’t unusual for a secretary of state to come to a different conclusion to a local authority, it isn’t unusual for a secretary of state to come to a different conclusion than a planning inspector.

He went on: “All of the relevant information relating to this matter is with the cabinet secretary. I have taken and will take advice from my permanent secretary about what further documentation we might be able to publish. But as he says we want to ensure the correct processes of the planning system are followed.”

Pressed again on the issue, Labour MP Liz Twist asked why Mr Jenrick did not immediately recuse himself from taking a decision on the Westferry development instead of “unlawfully trying to force it though”.

The cabinet minister replied: “All of the parties to this application – and that include the mayor of London, the applicant and the Tower Hamlets Council – agreed to redetermine the case at my suggestion. The court consented to do that and that is now what will happen.”

Referring to a Conservative fundraising event Mr Jenrick attended alongside Mr Desmond, he added: “My department knew about my attendance at the event before I went to it, they knew about the fact I had inadvertently sat next to the applicant, I didn’t know who I was going to be seated by until I sat at the table, and I discussed and took advice from my officials within the department at all times.”

Last week, the Electoral Commission revealed Mr Desmond donated £12,000 to the Tories on 29 January – two weeks after Mr Jenrick gave the go-ahead to his plan to build 1,500 homes on the site of a former printworks on east London’s Isle of Dogs.

The decision overturned previous rejections by the local council and independent planning inspectorate and came just a day before changes to the system which would have cost the developer’s company Northern & Shell an additional £30m-£50m.

After the council mounted a legal challenge in the High Court, Mr Jenrick accepted that his original decision had been “unlawful by reason of apparent bias”, quashed the decision and said he would take no further part in decisions about the application.

Source: UK Politics - www.independent.co.uk