Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick unlawfully approved a £1bn east London housing development so Tory Party donor could avoid £40m bill

[teqniq]

More dirt:

Exclusive: Robert Jenrick in new UK 'cash for favours' row

Boris Johnson’s embattled housing minister took charge of another controversial planning decision – days after the property developer donated thousands to the Tories

www.opendemocracy.net

 

[not-bono-ever]

OLBU

 

[tim]

It's getting to be like a third-rate rerun of the Poulson affair, albeit with a pornographer rather than a self-styled radical socialist visionary, and shittier architecture.

The BBC drama"Our Friends in the North" is available on Youtube for anyone who wants to know about old-fashioned political corruption.



And here's an extract from an interview with T Dan Smith leader of Newcastle Council who was behind planning corruption in the 1960.




In the BFI archive film below T Dan Smith and his ideals and visions before he got caught.

Watch Dan Smith - BFI Player

 

[stavros]

Is there anything like this on Johnson, from his time as Mayor? I understand a lot of high-end developments got waved through by his office.

 

[Serge Forward]

Even if there is, he'll just ignore it. There'll be a few harrumphs from the Guardian, Metro, the Mirror, as well as Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, then it'll be another case of "let's move on".

 

[stavros]

Even if there is, he'll just ignore it. There'll be a few harrumphs from the Guardian, Metro, the Mirror, as well as Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, then it'll be another case of "let's move on".

You're right: we already know about the skeletons in his Primark warehouse of a cupboard.

 

[Dogsauce]

As mayor he allowed developers to appeal against social housing provision, and rolled over every time.

 

[tim]

Neither the Government not the Opposition really wants to look too deeply into this because corruption related to planning applications is ubiquitous and involves prominent politicians from all main parties, particularly at the local level.

 

[stethoscope]

Quite. Lambeth, Haringey, Southwark, Newham, and others - Labour councils also been complicit for years in all this as much as Tory scum.

 

[existentialist]

Robert Jenrick says he regrets dining with donor before planning decision

No, he doesn't. He regrets being caught.

 

[editor]

Why is this crooked cunt still in office?

Embattled housing minister Robert Jenrick has admitted that he deliberately helped a Tory donor avoid paying a new tax on his housing development, and that this was the right thing to do.

Mr Jenrick was criticised for approving Richard Desmond’s luxury housing scheme a day before a community infrastructure levy came in to force, potentially saving the magnate £45m in levies.

But speaking at a parliamentary committee on Wednesday the minister, who is still in post, told MPs that he was acting in accordance with “natural justice” by getting the scheme through before the charges would have applied.



He noted that the developer had said the scheme might not be viable if he had had to pay the tax, which would have gone to fund public serv

Housing minister admits deliberately helping Tory donor avoid £45m tax bill on development

Housing minister says his actions on the Westferry scheme were consistent with ânatural justiceâ

www.independent.co.uk

 

[tim]

Why is this crooked cunt still in office?

Housing minister admits deliberately helping Tory donor avoid £45m tax bill on development

Housing minister says his actions on the Westferry scheme were consistent with ânatural justiceâ

www.independent.co.uk

Because the Tories have no interest in natural justice.

 

[existentialist]

Because the Tories have no interest in natural justice.

They prefer things to be unnatural

 

[teqniq]

Also with a 70ish seat majority in the commons and a broadly compliant media they know they can blatantly take the piss with complete impunity.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Why is this crooked cunt still in office?

Housing minister admits deliberately helping Tory donor avoid £45m tax bill on development

Housing minister says his actions on the Westferry scheme were consistent with ânatural justiceâ

www.independent.co.uk

It's always 'embattled' minister whatsisface. What that means in reality is they have to ignore something until the papers get bored of it, then carry on as usual. Struggling to pay rent while working two jobs because your city has been turned into a petri dish for gentrification by crooked cunts probably feels more like being embattled I reckon.

 

[Raheem]

It's always 'embattled' minister whatsisface. What that means in reality is they have to ignore something until the papers get bored of it, then carry on as usual. Struggling to pay rent while working two jobs because your city has been turned into a petri dish for gentrification by crooked cunts probably feels more like being embattled I reckon.

TBF, most Tory MPs are working more than two jobs. Have a heart.

 

[teqniq]

Grifting scumbag

Robert Jenrick claimed £100,000 expenses for ‘third home’

A cabinet minister accused of breaching the lockdown faces fresh questions over his housing portfolio as he has charged taxpayers more than £100,000 for a constituency home that he appears to use only rarely.Robert Jenrick, the housing, communities and local government secretary, was accused of igno

www.thetimes.co.uk

Spoiler: article

A cabinet minister accused of breaching the lockdown faces fresh questions over his housing portfolio as he has charged taxpayers more than £100,000 for a constituency home that he appears to use only rarely.

Robert Jenrick, the housing, communities and local government secretary, was accused of ignoring government advice last week after leaving his £2.5m London house during the lockdown and moving to a country home that he owns in Herefordshire.

Lockdown rules say families should not travel to second homes. Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said such journeys were not “necessary”.

A spokesman for Jenrick said the minister considered the £1.1m, 17th-century grade I listed country house near Leominster to be his family home — and that his wife and children moved there before the lockdown. However, Jenrick’s official entry on the Conservative Party website says he and his family “live in Southwell near Newark [his constituency], and in London”. Neighbours said he is rarely at the Herefordshire property and builders are a “regular fixture” there. One described the claim that it was his family home as “codswallop”.


MPs’ anti-sleaze guidance says they do not need to declare ownership of “any land or property which is used wholly for their own personal residential purposes, or those of their spouse, partner or dependent children”. Yet Jenrick has chosen to declare the Herefordshire home since 2015. Over the same period, Jenrick, 38, privately educated and married to a corporate lawyer, has charged the taxpayer more than £100,000 in rent and council tax for his constituency home.

Travel expenses suggest that Jenrick rarely spends an entire weekend at the property, which is in one of the top council tax brackets. On five occasions between 2018 and 2019, he drove to the constituency and back on the same day.
A government minister said last night: “It’s a bit odd to make the taxpayer fund your constituency home when you’ve got all that money. It doesn’t look good.”
Steve Reed, Labour’s shadow communities secretary, urged Jenrick to resign, saying he was only still in his post because “there’s no prime minister available to sack him”.
A spokesman for Jenrick did not respond to further requests for comment.

 

[Saul Goodman]

Grifting scumbag

Robert Jenrick claimed £100,000 expenses for ‘third home’

A cabinet minister accused of breaching the lockdown faces fresh questions over his housing portfolio as he has charged taxpayers more than £100,000 for a constituency home that he appears to use only rarely.Robert Jenrick, the housing, communities and local government secretary, was accused of igno

www.thetimes.co.uk

Spoiler: article

A cabinet minister accused of breaching the lockdown faces fresh questions over his housing portfolio as he has charged taxpayers more than £100,000 for a constituency home that he appears to use only rarely.

Robert Jenrick, the housing, communities and local government secretary, was accused of ignoring government advice last week after leaving his £2.5m London house during the lockdown and moving to a country home that he owns in Herefordshire.

Lockdown rules say families should not travel to second homes. Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said such journeys were not “necessary”.

A spokesman for Jenrick said the minister considered the £1.1m, 17th-century grade I listed country house near Leominster to be his family home — and that his wife and children moved there before the lockdown. However, Jenrick’s official entry on the Conservative Party website says he and his family “live in Southwell near Newark [his constituency], and in London”. Neighbours said he is rarely at the Herefordshire property and builders are a “regular fixture” there. One described the claim that it was his family home as “codswallop”.


MPs’ anti-sleaze guidance says they do not need to declare ownership of “any land or property which is used wholly for their own personal residential purposes, or those of their spouse, partner or dependent children”. Yet Jenrick has chosen to declare the Herefordshire home since 2015. Over the same period, Jenrick, 38, privately educated and married to a corporate lawyer, has charged the taxpayer more than £100,000 in rent and council tax for his constituency home.

Travel expenses suggest that Jenrick rarely spends an entire weekend at the property, which is in one of the top council tax brackets. On five occasions between 2018 and 2019, he drove to the constituency and back on the same day.
A government minister said last night: “It’s a bit odd to make the taxpayer fund your constituency home when you’ve got all that money. It doesn’t look good.”
Steve Reed, Labour’s shadow communities secretary, urged Jenrick to resign, saying he was only still in his post because “there’s no prime minister available to sack him”.
A spokesman for Jenrick did not respond to further requests for comment.

Nothing to see here, move along.

 

[equationgirl]

Why are these arseholes still allowed to bleed the public purse dry with little or no oversight? My expenses have to get approved, his should too.

 

[Steel Icarus]

Why is this crooked cunt still in office?

Housing minister admits deliberately helping Tory donor avoid £45m tax bill on development

Housing minister says his actions on the Westferry scheme were consistent with ânatural justiceâ

www.independent.co.uk

Same reason Patel is in office having got the boot for lying in 2017. They don't give a fuck

 

[brogdale]

Same reason Patel is in office having got the boot for lying in 2017. They don't give a fuck

All the while working class voters believe that these fuckers represent their interests they don't have to give a fuck.

 

[Steel Icarus]

I mean if I had to quit or was fired from my job for lying several times about breaking the rules or caught embezzling money before agreeing to repay it, I'd be likely to get a job again but I highly doubt it would be in an educational establishment.

I just don't get how so many MPs just wait it out then breeze back into senior positions after being caught doing shit they shouldn't.

 

[Steel Icarus]

"Right, this next candidate is Steel Icarus...wait, hold on, didn't he say a load of actually racist stuff on television and in print? I think that application is straight in the bin! Imagine him setting an example to the students or talking about equality with his track record!"

But it's fine if you're the top politician in the land, eh

 

[teqniq]

He's at it again:

 

[brogdale]

Piano wire.

 

[glitch hiker]

There's just no fucking end to it, is there.

 

[Pickman's model]

Piano wire.

Just drop the piano on him.

 

[Pickman's model]

I mean if I had to quit or was fired from my job for lying several times about breaking the rules or caught embezzling money before agreeing to repay it, I'd be likely to get a job again but I highly doubt it would be in an educational establishment.

It'd be your opportunity to move into politics

 

[teqniq]

Oh the irony:

 

[stavros]

Blimey, a blast from the past I'd hoped to forget.

Was what he did with Dirty Des illegal though? Fundamentally unethical without doubt, but my understanding was that the Secretary of State can overrule the local planning authority on decisions. I have vague recollections that a former London Mayor used similar techniques when in post...