MQT Highlight
Lib Dem Mike Tuffrey has obtained a pretty clear commitment from the mayor that Parker and Clement will make same declaration of interest as assembly members. How will Parker feel about that?
Lib Dem Mike Tuffrey has obtained a pretty clear commitment from the mayor that Parker and Clement will make same declaration of interest as assembly members. How will Parker feel about that?
In which I veer between considerable disapproval and endearing generosity:
By the end of this week, his eleventh since winning power, the shape and direction of Boris Johnson’s London mayoralty should at least start to appear. It’s been a mixed bag of mishaps and media performance so far, with what I predict will be the most ostentatious example of the latter soon to be presented.I refer to the imminent final report of the Forensic Audit Panel, a quintet picked by Johnson and dominated by devout Tory right-wingers to publicly attack Ken Livingstone’s management of money. Described by Labour members of the London Assembly as “lynch mob” and a “witch hunt” its almost comically obvious built-in bias has inspired a lively exchange of letters in the FT and a long snort of derision from Livingstone himself on being invited to contribute to his own rubbishing.
Continue reading "At Guardian Politics: Enough FAP & Flim-Flam!" »
Starts at 10.00 a.m. and features yesterday's man of mystery Sir Simon Milton and Ian "Two Jobs" Clement. To discover what each of them thinks he and the other is supposed to be doing, watch it live.
Not that I'm suggesting anything was illegal in the first place, you understand. Following this and this, the press release, just issued, reads as follows:
"Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has today nominated Sir Simon Milton as Deputy Mayor for Policy and Planning. Sir Simon has announced his intention to stand down as a Westminster Councillor and as Chairman of the Local Government Association, once a successor has been nominated. His appointment as Deputy Mayor for Policy and Planning will be subject to the appropriate procedures, with an interview panel chaired by Greater London Authority Chief Executive Anthony Mayer, which will include an independent element and a confirmation hearing, if required, by the London Assembly."
Can't get much more proper than that, eh? Has to be the best move for the mayor, especially after the Ray Lewis affair.
Since posting this I've been asking everyone I can think of to confirm that Sir Simon will be stepping down from both the LGA and WCC any time now and stepping up to become an adviser to Mayor Johnson - complete with title of Deputy - in the orthodox manner. The silence is starting to sound like the sort that means, "You're on to us, Dave, but we don't want to admit it just yet." And now a well-placed source is telling me that a double resignation will take place tomorrow...
UPDATE, 18.28: Up a bit!
Someone who knows someone who'd know has just told me that Sir Simon is about to step down as Chair of the Local Government Association and be retitled Deputy Mayor at City Hall. This follows Tim Parker's assurance on the Politics Show yesterday that Sir Simon's anomalous position would be clarified soon (I'm told on Wednesday). But how would this solve the basic problem, which is his simultaneous sitting on Westminster City Council? Is he resigning from that too? Would he be stepping down from the LGA and having a new City Hall job title if he weren't? Watch this space.
UPDATE, 15.22: Well-sourced rumour says he's quitting Westminster. Still just a rumour, though.
UPDATE, 17.48: It's up the page a bit.
Mayor Johnson's policing deputy is not impressed:
“I’m all for high density, but these silo buildings look like a cross between the pods of a nuclear power plant and a glass-and-steel office complex. There is no attempt to create a neighbourhood.”
Quoted in the Telegraph. Background on the project here.
I've just squeezed this blighter out for the blog. Thank God it's Friday.
On Wednesday the London Assembly voted unanimously to investigate Boris Johnson’s appointments of senior staff and consultants. The formal motion protests a desire for constitutional tidiness. Don’t you believe it - more than a few Assembly Members hope to further ruffle an already somewhat dishevelled mayor.
Continue reading "At Guardian Politics: Boris & His Appointments" »
He tells Pippa Crerar:
"'I thought about taking the job for about two seconds really and the rest was just convincing myself that I should be leaving behind a very comfortable life. I intend to run the place for Boris but he is the boss. He has got some very good qualities ... Most of all I think he appreciates that despite having had a very distinguished career doing a variety of different things, he actually hasn't run large organisations. I think that's possibly where I can make a contribution for him.'"
Now read on.
OK, here's a new angle. It seems that Parker believes he need only make the standard staff declaration of interests, nothing more. I can confirm that Mike Tuffrey AM, who raised the issue with Parker yesterday, had expected greater detail. I've now been reminded that all five members of the Forensic Audit Panel have made declarations and that these are in response to the same categories assembly members have to address, which require much fuller disclosure. If members of the FAP - who aren't even GLA employees - have done this, why hasn't Parker? Has he been misadvised?
UPDATE, 17.20: To answer my own question, no he hasn't been misadvised. For the purpose of registering interests Parker is just another GLA employee. I've asked why the FAP's members have made the fuller disclosure, so watch this space. I'm still wondering how Parker's position fits with Johnson's fine campaign promises about transparency. That, perhaps, is the real inconsistency.
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