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
Tip: mention @twtextapp on a Twitter thread with the keyword “unroll” to get a link to it.