Boris Watch

Back around the 27th April, the Back Boris campaign were delighted to announce a new Boris supporter:

Brian Cooke, the Chairman of London TravelWatch, has today officially endorsed the Conservative Candidate for Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.

London TravelWatch is the official watchdog organisation representing the interests of
transport users in and around the capital.

Brian Cooke said:
“Having looked at all the candidates transport manifesto’s in detail it has helped me come to this decision. I am of the view that Boris Johnson will listen to users’ concerns better and tackle some of the real issues in a more constructive and user friendly way.  Ken has paid lip service to real consultation on a whole raft of issues and I don’t believe Boris will have the arrogance of the “Ken knows best” policy. I believe Boris and his team would really take on board consultation and the views of Londoners.”

Naturally, that the Chairman of an organisation ostensibly set up to promote London’s transport users (and fairly lavishly funded, £1.6m annually from the GLA) should both officially support one candidate and denigrate another four days before the election was a trifle odd to say the least.  Evidently others thought so too, and the LA Transport Committee is holding an Extraordinary Meeting tomorrow at City Hall to decide what to do with Mr. Cooke.  This includes:

…termination of appointment with 3 months’ notice; or other sanctions such as warnings and/or requiring an apology.

Or of course, no action at all.  As part of this meeting (which may well be heard in private, which will be an interesting test of transparency) they’ll be considering the discrepencies between Mr. Cooke’s statement as issued by the Boris campaign and this relevant section from the rules applying to the post of Chairman or Member of London TravelWatch:

15

(a) Members should abstain from controversial party political activity;

(b) Subject to (a) above, members should be free to engage in any political activities, provided that they are conscious of their general public responsibility and exercise a proper discretion, particularly in regard to the work of London TravelWatch. On matters affecting that work, they should not normally make political speeches or engage in other political activities;
…

(g) Any member of London TravelWatch who is doubtful about the application of the rules in this section, or about the propriety of any political activity, should seek guidance from London TravelWatch’s Chief Executive, who will, if necessary seek further guidance from the Greater London Authority; and
(h) The foregoing rules apply equally to political activity on behalf of any political party or organisation.

Pretty clear there, you can engage in political activities provided they aren’t controversial or pertain to the work of London TravelWatch.  In the case of coming out strongly for one candidate because you think he’ll listen to London transport users better while simultaneously attacking a rival candidate for ‘arrogance’, four days before a hotly contested election between just those two people, it’s hard to argue that this doesn’t fall under both 15(a) and 15(b).  In any case, 15(g) suggests that he should at least have gone to the Chief Executive and sought guidance.  It will be interesting if it comes out that he didn’t, as the Chief Executive apparently reported him to the Transport Committee.

As a matter of interest, the current Committee consists of:

Valerie Shawcross – Chair (Labour)
Caroline Pidgeon – Deputy Chair (Lib Dem)
Victoria Borwick (Conservative)
James Cleverly (Conservative)
Roger Evans (Conservative)
Jenny Jones (Green)
Joanne McCartney (Labour)
Murad Qureshi (Labour)
Richard Tracey (Conservative)

In other words there’s a good chance of Mr. Cooke not getting a sympathetic hearing.

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