please empty your brain below
Property developers and politicians are never a good combination

Kutgw | 16.06.20 - 7:15 a.m. | #

Yep, you sure can trust those Tories!

Brian | 16.06.20 - 7:41 a.m. | #

The decision by Jenrick pissed off the local (Conservative) councillor so much that he resigned from the party...
https://twitter.com/Andrewwood17

James Scantlebury | 16.06.20 - 7:56 a.m. | #

Kutgw - I think that’s a rather astute observation.

James Scantlebury - yes and it looks like he’s been tweeting a lot about it recently too!

Thanks for the gripping write up, DG. It will be interesting to see how this gets resolved.

Sam | 16.06.20 - 8:08 a.m. | #

Brian I suggest you read about Thomas Dan Smith former leader of Newcastle City Council, corruption is not the preserve of any particular party

Kutgw | 16.06.20 - 8:44 a.m. | #

The bar for what counts as a ministerial scandal seems to be so low these days that I can't see this making many waves.

martin | 16.06.20 - 8:50 a.m. | #

Or is it a high bar for scandal and a low bar for acceptability?

Ian | 16.06.20 - 8:58 a.m. | #

Nice try of whataboutery. But T Dan Smith was convicted in 1974. Which is about 46 years ago.

Malcolm | 16.06.20 - 9:00 a.m. | #

Good to see that the Daily Mail is still happy to tear into Dirty Desmond's media empire. I remember when Desmond's firm launched "The Health Lottery" in 2011, and that day's Mail ran a scathing attack piece on Desmond's new venture, absolutely tearing it to shreds.

TheLupineOne | 16.06.20 - 9:20 a.m. | #

Richard Desmond was very firmly entwined with the LDDC (London Docklands Development Corporation) who developed the Isle of Dogs in the Thatcher era. It was all deeply dodgy – see The Long Good Friday for context. Desmond was one of the first to build a publishing office, on Millharbour, I believe (it no longer exists), which somehow the LDDC paid for, then leased back to him at a peppercorn rent. Maybe something to do with the fact he 'employed' the son of the then head of the LDDC. The lad had a company BMW and a very decent salary but no apparent job. Weird, that. Desmond later built 'The Northern & Shell Tower' on the other side of the dock, and probably still owns that land too. There's a book to be written about Dirty Des and his shenanigans – and in fact there was, by Tom Bower, but it got lawyered into oblivion. Again, weird, that...

Chris M | 16.06.20 - 9:36 a.m. | #

I somewhat wonder why some people seem so controlled by greed of money and / or influence.

Patrickov | 16.06.20 - 9:49 a.m. | #

If we are talking about T Dan Smith, which admittedly is nearly 50 years ago now so ancient history, you can throw in the architect John Poulson (with his developments at Waterloo, Cannon Street, and East Croydon stations, among others, mostly going or gone) and his connections with Reginald Maudling (the Conservative Home Secretary who resigned as a result in 1972, but remained an MP until he died from his drinking 7 years later), and also the MPs John Cordle (who left the house) and Albert Roberts (who didn't).

Who was the last government minister to resign as the result of a scandal? Amber Rudd over Windrush?

Andrew | 16.06.20 - 9:50 a.m. | #

Shocking to hear that the Daily Mail, of all things, has finally done something to its credit. Who'd have thought?

Alex McKenna | 16.06.20 - 9:50 a.m. | #

As for Canary Wharf, I think LDDC was founded in 1981 and the Isle of Dogs Enterprise Zone - with its significant tax benefits - established in 1982. So not only were there private developers using their cash to seek approval for schemes (allegedly), but also public cash turbo-charging the developers.

Property development has always had its seedy or dodgy side. Donald Trump is a case in point.

Andrew | 16.06.20 - 9:54 a.m. | #

I'm baffled how Jendrick is still in his job

Tower Hamlets council themselves are no strangers to scandal.

Mikey C | 16.06.20 - 9:58 a.m. | #

Presumably this isn't the Desmond who once had a barrow in the market place.

Oldie from Notts | 16.06.20 - 10:19 a.m. | #

The councillor mentioned in post 3 (Andrew Wood) deserves huge credit. He's been fighting on this story from the beginning. Despite being the local councillor for the area, Tower Hamlets Council have consistently refused to release documents to him, and he's had to fund his own freedom of information costs to get documents (many of which are still massively redacted)

The whole episode stinks to high heaven but Tower Hamlets Council don't emerge with credit either. The reason the former major (Johnson) could get involved in making a ruling was because Tower Hamlets didn't complete due planning processes within deadline.

While some in the national labour party are making a noise, the local MP (Begum) is utterly silent and not engaged at all.

Re the comment about other Desmond sites, yes the Northern and Shell building is still extant, across the dock from this site - just in from Crossharbour station.

IslandDweller | 16.06.20 - 2:31 p.m. | #

Great overview! What a pity that a site like this will provide no value to London for over a decade!

TomH | 16.06.20 - 4:14 p.m. | #

IslandDweller - N&Shell's other building has been approved for repurposing to flats, so yes is still there but not in its current use for much longer!

CJM | 16.06.20 - 9:13 p.m. | #

Thank you, Oldie from Notts; first chuckle of the day (or LOL as the young people say, as I genuinely did!). Anyone under 50, Google it.

Andrew S | 17.06.20 - 9:33 a.m. | #











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