A council is to act after a weekly newspaper’s investigation revealed the authority’s leader had discussed making “politically advantageous” boundary changes.

Havering Council has launched an investigation after the Romford Recorder was leaked a tape recording made secretly in a Conservative group meeting.

During the meeting, council leader Damian White was heard on the recording saying those involved had “come up with a set of proposals that I think are really politically advantageous for us” and claimed the council’s chief executive had allowed him to influence the authority’s proposals.

The resulting splash for the Recorder, pictured below, prompted Rainham’s Labour MP Jon Cruddas to file a complaint with the council’s monitoring officer John Jones.

Mr Jones has since appointed an officer from another local authority to undertake an investigation into the matter.

Plans discussed on the covert recording included carving areas unlikely to vote Conservative into wards with large populations, but more traditionally Tory areas into more wards with fewer residents.

Another idea was to use borders to split unpopular Romford developments into different electoral wards, minimising their impact on the Tory vote.

Former Conservative councillor Bob Perry later outed himself as the mole who had undertaken the recording.

Charles Thomson, London and Hertfordshire reporter for Recorder owner Archant’s investigations unit, told HTFP: “I think most people come into journalism wanting to make a difference, so it’s always a great feeling when break a story which has an impact or leads to some sort of action.

“We will of course keep tabs on this story as the investigation progresses.”

Confirming the investigation, a council spokesman said: “A monitoring officer from another council has been asked to review the complaint, which is entirely normal.”

Cllr White previously said it was “entirely normal” for political parties to respond to boundary consultations.