Labour is calling for a full Cabinet Office inquiry into the “biased” approval by communities secretary Robert Jenrick of plans for redevelopment of the Westferry Printworks which were overturned last month after a legal fight.

The party’s shadow housing minister Mike Amesbury wrote to the civil service permanent secretary Mark Sedwill as details emerged of a meeting between Jenrick and the applicant, media tycoon Richard Desmond (pictured), last November in which the application was raised.

Permission for the 1,524-home redevelopment designed by PLP for businesses owned by the former Express Newspapers proprietor, a former donor to the Tory Party, was overturned last month after the government accepted the decision gave the impression of “apparent bias”.

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