Labour asks for Parliamentary Standards probe into Robert Jenrick

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.

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick in the House of Commons

The move follows Mr Jenrick's support for a £1 billion 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 himself and Mr Desmond before the Cabinet minister signed off on the 1,500-home Westferry Printworks scheme.The Cabinet minister originally gave the development the go-ahead in January 2020, overruling both Tower Hamlets Council and a planning inspector.He subsequently reversed the ruling following legal action by the council, admitting that what he did was "unlawful by reason of apparent bias".

Labour’s Shadow Housing Secretary Steve Reed said: “The Prime Minister can’t just sweep this issue under the carpet. 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.

“The Prime Minister has yet again shown woefully poor judgment by not referring clear breaches of the Ministerial Code to the Cabinet Secretary and he must now come clean himself about his own involvement in this case.”

Downing Street has said Boris Johnson has full confidence in the Housing Secretary, and that the Prime Minister had no involvement in the case.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive. We are now more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism.

Subscribe to scotsman.com and enjoy unlimited access to Scottish news and information online and on our app. Visit https://www.scotsman.com/subscriptions now to sign up.

By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Joy Yates

Editorial Director