Patience Wheatcroft Declares Herself A Tory

So like Greenhalgh and Lister the chair of the four-strong "independent" FAP is a Conservative card-carrier. Had she mentioned that before?

Comments

[JimmyB]

You say "like Greenhalgh and Lister". But, oddly, neither Greenhalgh or Lister does declare himself to be a member of the Conservative Party on the register of interests. Have they resigned? Or do they just not consider (unlike Wheatcroft) the Conservative Party to be a body "whose principle [sic] purposes include the influence of public opinion or policy"?

[Dave Hill]

Hi Jimmy B. You're quite right that neither Greenhalgh and Lister declare themselves party members, but as leaders of Tory councils they are well known to be so. The same was not the case with Wheatcroft. I have no problem with Boris appointing a team of mostly fellow party members to look at the books, but let's not pretend the panel is even remotely politically neutral, likely to conclude anything other than that Ken Livingstone's administration wasted money, or that its high public profile is anything other than a bit of political grandstanding. We all know Boris wants to spend money differently from Ken. So why doesn't he just get on with it?