A YouGov poll shows that of nearly 3,500 adults asked, 39 per cent would like to see housing secretary Robert Jenrick resign, while 11 per cent want him to stay.

Exactly 50 per cent, meanwhile, say they don’t know.

This discontent stems from the news that surfaced in late May regarding the housing secretary’s decision this January to approve of a £1bn housing project on London’s Isle of Dogs, headed by businessman Richard Desmond.

Doing so allowed Desmond to save £40m through avoiding revised council infrastructure charges, which came into effect one day after the decision was made.

This green light went against the planning inspector’s approval and was later challenged in court by Tower Hamlets council, which alleged that “the timing of the decision appeared to show bias”. This led to the government admitting that it had acted unlawfully.

It has since emerged that Desmond donated £12,000 to the Conservatives two weeks after the original decision by Jenrick.

Correspondence between the two men, released by Jenrick last week, have added more fuel to the row in that they display an openness and friendliness that some argue shows naivety considering Desmond and Jenrick’s relative positions.

Not surprisingly, opinions on whether Jenrick should resign are split across party lines, but perhaps not to the extent one might first imagine: Of those who believe he should go, 51 per cent vote Labour and 33 per cent Conservative.

This is mirrored with respondents who voted to leave Europe or remain inside, being 36 per cent and 51 per cent, respectively.

Things are starker when asked if the housing secretary should not resign. Here, 5 per cent of those who vote Labour agree while 22 per cent who voted Conservative say he should not resign.

And 7 per cent of those asked who voted to remain wish for Jenrick to stay compared to 17 per cent of the leave persuasion.