My beginner's guide to the Robert Jenrick/Richard Desmond planning row in 8 tweets 👇
🏗️Richard Desmond, the billionaire former newspaper tycoon, applied for planning permission to build a £1bn development, including 1,500 homes, on the site of the old Westferry printworks on the Isle of Dogs
🍽️ In November, Desmond sat next to Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick at a Tory fundraising dinner at the Savoy Hotel and played him a video about the scheme on his mobile phone
👎 The planning inspector and local council recommended that the development should be refused, but Jenrick over-ruled them to give the go-ahead on January 14
🏙️ His decision came one day before a community levy was introduced that would have cost Desmond £40m. Jenrick also waived affordable housing rules, giving Desmond an estimated £106m in extra revenue
💷 Two weeks later on January 28, Desmond donated £12,000 to the Conservative Party
👨⚖️ After Tower Hamlets launched a High Court challenge, Jenrick admitted his decision was "unlawful by reason of apparent bias" and it was quashed
📃 Jenrick is now facing calls, including from Labour and @CommonsHCLG, to publish all the correspondence and files relating to his decision
💥 Update: Jenrick has now been forced to publish documents, including text messages that show Desmond asked him to speed up approval to help him avoid paying tens of millions on community levy. In emails, Jenrick's officials said he was "insistent" decision came before deadline
