London: Mayor & More

At Guardian Politics: Boris Distances Himself From FAP Report

My report, just gone live.

Forensic Audit Panel Report: Ken Livingstone Responds

In a statement he says:

"When he came to power Boris Johnson abolished the properly independent enquiry into Lee Jasper headed by Rabinder Singh QC of Matrix Chambers and instead appointed an entirely non-independent panel, headed by Patience Wheatcroft, of which four out of five members were also members of the Tory Party – including the chair herself. A body which has four Tory party members out of five members in total cannot in any way be considered independent or objective but even this kangaroo court has not been able to find any evidence of corruption or even rule breaking.

"The proposals contained in the panel's report would be disastrous for the LDA and indicate the clear difference in priorities. The report's proposals would lead to a huge reduction in development and economic regeneration in London. The report's proposal that the LDA should fundamentally hand its funds to the boroughs for delivery of programmes would merely lead to the Tory controlled boroughs cutting their council tax-funded programmes by the same amount, leading to a reduction of overall regeneration investment and spending in London: this is the exact opposite of the investment that is required to deal with London's growth. The inevitable result will be a deterioration of the economic situation and quality of life in London. The most disadvantaged of Londoners would suffer the worst effects of this proposal.

"It is also clear from the Report that the money wasted by this administration in its first two and half months already vastly exceeds any of the wildest and unproved charges it has levied. The waste so far of Boris Johnson's administration includes £30 million a year extra cost to Transport for London for implementing its cycling programme now that the income to cover it from the £25 a day charge on gas guzzlers will not be received, the embarking on a programme for a new Routemaster bus with conductors which all independent transport experts estimate will cost over £100 million a year, the loss of £15 million to pay for half-price travel for those on income support from Venezuela with the result that Londoners will have to pay for any scheme for subsidised travel, and the £400,000 legal fees paid to Porsche.

As a result of these measure Londoners will be hit by many tens of millions of pounds a year worth of unnecessary new charges – far greater than even the wildest charges made or investigated by this panel."

Statement ends.

FAP Report Is Up

Read it all here (pdf).

Tory Audit Panel: Reports Of Its Report

There was a press briefing about the final report of the TAP - Tory Audit Panel - yesterday afternoon. I couldn't go, and am therefore depending on media coverage until the whole thing goes up on the GLA website at 10.00 (Thank you, Guto). The Telegraph reports that it only looked at eight LDA projects. I wonder how they decided which eight? It also says:

"The LDA became infamous after its head, Lee Jasper, was forced to quit earlier this year amid a welter of allegations about his private life and financial dealings."

So Jasper was secretly the LDA's head! Was there no end to that Ken Livingstone's deceit?

Bluewashing The Website?

The Troll has spotted that £40,000 has been set aside for redesigning the GLA website (page 15 item DD21). Now a bidding war has broken out. Any reduction on five grand?

Tour De France Retourner?

Well, well, well...

"There will be increased speculation that the Tour de France may soon return to London in spite of Ken Livingstone's defeat in the mayoral election, after a visit to the race yesterday by Dan Ritterband, a close adviser to Livingstone's successor Boris Johnson, left. Ritterband, Johnson's chief of staff in his election campaign, visited the Cholet time-trial to see how the race functions. Following last year's Tour start in the capital, London has bid to host at least one stage of the race before the 2012 Olympics."

Nice spot, the Guardian.

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?

Mayors For Peace: Johnson Responds

Following yesterday's development, Martin at Mayorwatch obtained the following from Johnson's office:

"Whilst there may be debate about the proliferation of nuclear weapons, membership of Mayors for Peace is not a priority for the new administration, which is committed to focusing on domestic issues of major importance to Londoners, such as safety on our streets, improving public transport and making this city a better place for all Londoners to live in. The Mayor is also committed to value for money for London taxpayers and it is a much better use of his and his team's time to focus on the important day-to-day issues that need to be addressed, which is what he was elected to do."

OK, but how much time and tax-payers' money was expended on membership of this group? Enough to justify withdrawal on value-for-money grounds? Or is this mostly a political gesture? Martin's full report is here.

Political Positioning

I should have highlighted this from Paul Kelso's piece earlier:

"Many of [David] Ross's conclusions were drawn from evidence in the NAO [National Audit Office] report, and influential figures within the London project suspect the mayor is positioning himself as the financial conscience of the Olympics for political purposes."

This sounds exactly right. Is Ross concluding anything different from the NAO? And while we're at it will Patience Wheatcroft and her panel discover anything about GLA and LDA spending that the police and the Assembly's own inquiries aren't already? The election's over, Boris. Time to stop positioning and start delivering.

Forensic Audit Panel: Two Letters To The FT

First, John Biggs AM:

Sir, It is to be expected that any incoming administration will want to define its own priorities and differentiate itself from its predecessor. It is also entirely reasonable to try to learn from past events, investigate what could have been done differently and examine how processes can be improved ("London audit panel ‘horrified’ ”, News Digest, June 9). Politicians on all sides on the Assembly have no problem with this. Indeed, we would welcome an authoritative, objective assessment.

Readers should be clear, however, that the panel appointed by Boris Johnson and headed by Patience Wheatcroft is not an impartial or forensic "audit panel". It is simply a group of Conservative party politicians and supporters hand-picked by the mayor without any pretence of open process. Any findings or conclusions it draws will need to be viewed in this light.

Today, Deputy Barnes responds:

Sir, The forensic audit panel appointed by Boris Johnson, the new mayor of London, is a five-strong team of highly professional people, including Andrew Gordon, the independent head of investigations within the forensic services group at Pricewaterhouse Coopers. The panel is not a “group of Conservative party politicians and supporters”, as John Biggs suggests (Letters, June 13).

But Richard! Sir! Does the remainder of the panel not comprise Edward Lister, Conservative leader of Wandsworth Council and Stephen Greenhalgh, Conservative leader of Hammersmith and Fulham Council along with businessman Patrick Frederick and former Sunday Telegraph editor Patience Wheatcroft, neither of whom are thought to be members of Socialist Action? If Mr Biggs was guilty of promiscuous use of the word "group" where Andrew Gordon is concerned, have you not been downright pornographic in your deployment of the term "professional"?