Boris Johnson has full confidence in the housing secretary, Robert Jenrick, Downing Street has insisted, despite fresh revelations about his relationship with the billionaire property developer Richard Desmond, in documents published this week. Pressed about Jenrick’s role in rushing through a decision on the development, allowing Desmond to avoid a £45m payment under the community infrastructure levy, Johnson’s official spokesman signalled that No 10 had no concerns. “Robert Jenrick has set out his account in public and to parliament, including publishing the relevant documentation, and in the light of this account the prime minister considers the matter closed,” he said. Johnson’s spokesman went on to give the same statement, repeatedly, in response to a string of other questions about Jenrick’s role in approving the housing development in east London, and his relationship with Desmond. Asked whether Johnson continued to have full confidence in Jenrick, he said, “yep”. Asked specifically whether Johnson had discussed the row with Jenrick, the spokesman said: “The PM speaks to his cabinet colleagues all the time, and has spoken to the communities secretary in recent days.” The bundle of documents, released to the communities select committee on Wednesday after Labour threatened to force a vote on the issue, revealed that Jenrick gave Desmond his phone number, after the pair sat next to each other at a Tory fundraising dinner in November. Desmond then lobbied the minister, telling him a decision was urgent because “we don’t want to give Marxists loads of doe [sic] for nothing!”
Emails from officials suggest Jenrick did seek to expedite the approval of the scheme, with one message saying “on timing, my understanding is that SoS [the secretary of state: Jenrick] is/was insistent that decision issued this week ie tomorrow – as next week the viability of the scheme is impacted by a change in the London CIL regime”. Clive Betts, the Labour MP who chairs the housing select committee, said the documents left a series of questions unanswered. Betts said Jenrick had given parliament the impression that his contact with the property developer ended after meeting him at a fundraising dinner in November. However, documents released on Wednesday night showed they had “extensive” contact afterwards and raises further questions about the minister’s propriety, Betts said. Betts told the Guardian: “The committee may well ask the minister to come to talk to us again and write and ask him for more information. The thing that surprised me was the continued connection and exchange of texts [with Desmond] after the dinner. The impression that he gave yesterday was he saw him at the dinner, saw a bit of video and that was it. That was clearly not what happened,” he said.
Betts said that he was shocked to see that Jenrick had apparently entertained the possibility of going to visit the site. “The arrangements to go on site would have not been appropriate and he seems to have realised that. There does appear to have been an error of judgment over his involvement,” he said. He said the committee could launch an inquiry into when ministers should withdraw from planning decisions. “We should look at when ministers should withdraw from involvement once they have been lobbied, to ensure that there is not even an appearance of being susceptible to lobbying. In planning matters, appearances are important,” he said. A business minister, Nadhim Zahawi, sought to defend Jenrick on Thursday, insisting there was no “smoking gun”. But he unintentionally fuelled controversy about Jenrick’s behaviour, appearing to suggest it was legitimate for planning issues to be raised at Conservative party events. Pressed on what a hypothetical Tory voter in Doncaster or Ashfield might think about Desmond’s ability to directly lobby the minister making the planning decision, Zahawi said they could consider doing the same thing. “Well, if people go to a fundraiser in their local area, in Doncaster, for the Conservative party, they’ll be sitting next to MPs and other people in their local area, and can interact with different parts of the authority,” he said. “The important thing is the access didn’t buy this billionaire a decision.” Asked about Zahawi’s comments, Betts said: “It ought to be made clear that there is no connection between donation and planning permissions.” The housing secretary has faced accusations of “cash for favours” after it emerged Desmond had personally given the Conservative party £12,000 two weeks after the scheme for 1,500 homes was approved. Jenrick had later to quash his own approval, conceding that the decision was unlawful. Asked whether anyone else in No 10 had met Desmond, or discussed the proposed development, the spokesman said: “No one in No10 discussed the appeal with Mr Desmond or the applicant. No 10 had no involvement with the secretary of state’s appeal decision.”