There was me thinking only nasty old Trots went round airbrushing inconvenient facts out of history. Spot what’s missing from this TfL press release:
Stephen Norris became a Member of Parliament, representing Oxford East, in 1983. He has served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport and Minister for Transport in London, where he was responsible for the Jubilee line extension, the largest extension of the London Underground network to date. He has chaired the National Cycling Strategy Board, been the Director General of the Road Haulage Association and President of the Motor Cycle Industry Association and a patron of the cyclists charity, Sustrans and of the Campaign for Better Transport (UK) Trust
To fill in the gap (no, not his being in charge during the JLE overrun, the other one) here’s a little something from Jarvis’ corporate website:
Steven Norris
(Chairman)
Steven has a degree in Law and spent most of his early life in the motor and engineering business. He entered Parliament in 1983 and was Minister of Transport in London from 1992 to 1996. He retired from Parliament in 1997 and became Director General of the Road Haulage Association. He is now Senior Partner at Park Place Communications, a consultancy specialising in transport and the built environment and is a leading authority on transport policy and planning. He is a member of the Audit, Nomination and Remuneration Committees.
There, now we have a much more rounded picture. All part of the service we provide.
Tags: 6 Comments
6 responses so far ↓
er…that he has a degree in Law?
I’m a bit lost as well…
*Splashes water on face*
Oh, no I’m not, the first one has somehow forgotten to mention that he’s a member of Jarvis.
Gold star to Ben, and first dibs on the ice cream at lunch. Not just a member of Jarvis, but chairman. Incidentally, in 2004 he said he’d step down from Jarvis if he became Mayor, but we’ve no indication that he’ll do the same now he’s got his two jobs at City Hall.
Park Place Communications is more than a bit obscure, too. If anyone can find out anything about it I’d be interested, like if it’s anything more than just a company to sell Norris’ services as a consultant.
The only thing I’ve found is that former SRA head (and various other jobs around the government/private interface, but now head of National Express) Richard Bowker paid them £1500 of public money to advise him how to approach a meeting with the Public Accounts Committee. That’s £750 an hour. I hope he charges rather less for his time these days, particularly given that he’s got two jobs and counting…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/may/06/london.conservatives
The other thing worth pursuing in that article is that Norris apparently worked for the SRA, which is now recognised as a colossal waste of time, and which was abolished a couple of years ago.
Are you sure it was actually Boris that was responsible for this relatively benign omission? Do you think he personally instructed his press office to deliberately remove any reference to Jarvis? We’re starting to stray into tin-foil hat country…
Gosh, what an amazing piece of investigative journalism! To find out that Norris is chairman of Jarvis! Wow! Take a Pullitzer Prize.
Actually, it is quite normal for press releases in the public sector to give biographies that just list political and public sector achievements, because it is based on them that the person is judged to be experienced and to have expertise.
You have only highlighted his further enormous experience and expertise in the transport industry with your astonishing revelation (which everyone has alws been aware of) that he is the chairman of a major public company. As non-stories go, this one went.
Psst. I’ve just heard that Gordon Brown is Scottish. It doesn’t say that on his website.