Labour demands further answers in Westferry 'cash-for-favours' scandal
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Labour has today written to Robert Jenrick to come back to the
House of Commons to explain major discrepancies between the account
he gave Parliament about his role in the Westferry cash-for-favours
scandal and the documents Labour forced the Government to publish
on 24 June. Shadow Communities Secretary Steve Reed has also called
on the Secretary of State to publish all remaining documents not
subject to Freedom of Information laws in the interests of
transparency over...Request free trial
Labour has today written to Robert Jenrick to come back to the House of
Commons to explain major discrepancies between the account he
gave Parliament about his role in the Westferry cash-for-favours
scandal and the documents Labour forced the Government to publish
on 24 June.
Shadow Communities Secretary Steve Reed has also called on
the Secretary of State to publish all remaining documents not
subject to Freedom of Information laws in the interests of
transparency over the growing scandal.
The documents reveal that Mr Jenrick initiated further contact with Mr Desmond via text message after they dined together at a Conservative Party Fundraising dinner. They also show that he failed to notify officials immediately about the dinner as he is required to do, and that he appears to have broken the code of conduct by acting on direct instructions from Mr Desmond to rush through the decision to save the billionaire Conservative Party donor £30-50m in tax due to Tower Hamlets Council. Steve Reed MP, Labour's Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, said: “These breathtaking documents raise far more questions about the Secretary of State’s relationship with Richard Desmond than they answer. Whether the Prime Minister likes it or not, this matter is far from closed. “An explosive and unprecedented case of a Secretary of State quashing his own unlawful, biased decision to approve a “cash-for-favours” planning decision that saved a Conservative donor over £150 million demands the utmost transparency. “That is why the Secretary of State must come back to the House of Commons to explain himself and why he must publish all remaining evidence. The public need to know there is not one rule for the Conservatives and their wealthy friends and another rule for everyone else.” Ends Notes Steve Reed has written to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to ask for further clarification about his role in the Westferry “cash-for-favours” scandal:
Dear Secretary of State
Westferry Printworks Development
Thank you for releasing documents relating to your decision
on the Westferry Printworks Development following yesterday’s
debate in the House of Commons.
I recognise you agree that transparency is important in
allowing proper democratic scrutiny of the way you exercise your
powers as Secretary of State. In that spirit, a number of
questions arise from the documents and I would be grateful for
your response.
1. In a
memorandum dated 20 November your private office contact MHCLG
officials in the following terms:
“Morning (and you thought you wouldn’t hear from me over purdah!!!)! Quick thing from me, SoS has flagged a case in Westferry London Docklands (redevelopment of a printworks or something like that?). He understands a ministerial decision on this is likely to be coming up soon and also that there may be some sensitivity with timing of final decision. Given this he has asked that advice be prepared for the first few eays of the new Gov so a decision can be made and communicated before xmas. Does this all sound ok?” Please can you explain the following:
2. You eventually quashed your decision on the Westferry
Printworks Development for reasons of ‘apparent bias’ but you
have never explained what, precisely, this ‘apparent bias’ was.
I presume this reason arises from advice you received from
MHCLG officials or legal advisers when they advised you of the
likely outcome of Tower Hamlets’ judicial review of your
decision. Please can you share the advice you received
detailing the exact nature of the ‘apparent bias’ that made your
decision unlawful?
3. You have released documents relating to the Westferry
case that would have been subject to FoI. In the interests
of transparency and given the controversy surrounding this
decision, will you now also release the remaining relevant
documents that would not have been subject to FoI?
4. Please can you confirm what contacts you had with other
ministers or their representatives about the Westferry decision,
including in person or by electronic means such as texts, and
disclose the content of those communications or
conversations?
5. There is a significant discrepancy between your reports
and Mr Desmond’s of how long you viewed a promotional video about
Westferry on his phone. Please can you confirm whether Mr Desmond
is correct in claiming that you viewed the video for three or
four minutes and then thanked him for showing it to
you?
6. Please can you confirm who in MHCLG you notified about
your dinner with Mr Desmond and why you did not notify them at
the earliest opportunity?
I look forward to your reply.
Steve Reed
Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local
Government
Text of Robert Jenrick’s speech to the House of Commons on
24 June: https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2020-06-24/debates/062FA715-C506-4F43-9F2B-0DBDF51331C3/WestferryPrintworksDevelopment#contribution-E08AB5FD-FEC6-4CD4-9BB3-09CDA047E0C0
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