Minister suggests voters can become Tory donors to influence government

A Conservative minister has suggested that ordinary voters can influence the government by becoming Tory donors while defending Robert Jenrick over the ‘cash-for-favours’ scandal.

In an interview this morning with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, business minister Nadhim Zahawi argued that members of the public could “interact” with MPs in the same way the Richard Desmond did with Robert Jenrick.

The MP for Doncaster defended the Secretary of State’s controversial dealings with the property developer over a £1bn housing scheme in east London, and claimed that “the access didn’t buy this billionaire a decision”.

Zahawi said: “If people go to a fundraiser in their local area in Doncaster for the Conservative Party, they’d be sitting next to MPs and other people in their local authority. People can interact with different parts of that authority.”

The comment by the Tory minister follows the decision by the Housing Secretary to overturn his own approval of a Tory donor’s planning application for a development after admitting “apparent bias”.

129-pages of documents relating to the case were released on Wednesday, showing emails and letters between Jenrick and his officials and representatives of the developer.

Jenrick acknowledged previously that he had published his decision in time for the developer to avoid a new charge – known as a community infrastructure levy – which would have cost the developer additional £30m to £50m.

The released correspondence supports this, with one official recorded as having said: “On timing, my understanding is that SoS 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.”

As well as approving the decision the day before the new charge was introduced, Jenrick had overruled his advisors to reduce the amount of affordable housing in the development – saving Desmond a further £106m.

Commenting on the documents, Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary Steve Reed said: “These explosive new revelations show clear discrepancies between what the Secretary of State told the House of Commons and what appears in the official documents.

“The documents clearly show that Mr Jenrick did not notify officials immediately after his meeting with Mr Desmond; rather than “closing down” the discussion as he claims, he initiated contact with Mr Desmond by text message the following day; and it confirms that he rushed through the decision specifically to help the developer avoid a £30-50m levy payable to the local council for infrastructure in one of the poorest local authorities in England.

“The Housing Secretary needs to come to the House to explain these discrepancies as a matter of urgency: the public must be reassured that there is not one rule for the Conservatives and their wealthy donors and another rule for everyone else.”