Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick
A BILLIONAIRE former press baron gave £12,000 to the Tories two weeks after his property development plans got the green light from the government, it emerged today.
Richard Desmond’s plans for 1,500 homes on the Isle of Dogs in east London were unlawfully approved by Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick.
Tower Hamlets council rejected his £1 billion scheme for a “vibrant waterfront neighbourhood” on the site of the former Westferry Printworks as it would have consisted of 21 per cent affordable housing, far below the 35 per cent usually required.
Once derided by Farage as a ‘fraud,’ Jenrick has defected to Reform, bringing experience and political ruthlessness to the populist right — and raising the unsettling prospect of a Farage-led movement with a seasoned operative pulling the strings, says ANDREW MURRAY
It is rather strange that Labour continues to give prestigious roles to inappropriate, controversy-mired businessmen who are also major Tory donors. What could Labour possibly be hoping to get out of it, asks SOLOMON HUGHES