Whatever was in Boris’s puppeteers’ minds when they decided he should give most of his advisers the confusing and misleading titles of “Deputy Mayor for…”, I’d be willing to bet that in the face of the reporting of today’s allegations against Ray Lewis, they’re having their doubts about the wisdom of their decision.
When announcing the appointments in May, the titles made his advisers sound very important and official, and arguably demonstrated Boris’s ‘fresh’ approach to the Mayoralty, sharing the responsibility around somewhat more than his predecessor and indicating less concentration of power in the hands of a single, central Mayor.
An alternative way of looking at the titles, with the benefit of hindsight, is that he wanted to make sure everyone was looking at the mediagenic personalities he’d lavished such highfalutin titles on, so that no-one would notice the fact that a shadowy cabal of unnamed Tories would actually be taking all the decisions.
Either way, following the allegations tonight, the title bestowed on Ray Lewis is not looking a good idea. The media are dropping, in almost all references, the “for Young People” part of his title, instead referring to him as “the Deputy Mayor”, “the Mayor’s deputy” and so forth.
Where the best anyone could do with Lee Jasper was try and highlight his close friendship with Ken Livingstone as well as his status as an adviser, the media reporting today gives the clear implication that Ray Lewis is Boris’s number two, the most important person in his administration, and it’s this important a figure who is having these allegations levelled at him.
The media aren’t renowned for understanding or clearly presenting fine nuances like “Deputy Mayor for Young People” versus “Deputy Mayor”, and while Boris might have enjoyed playing on this in appointing multiple ‘deputies’ to address his multiple ‘number one priorities’, but he’s not going to enjoy it when it makes alleged scandals seem that bit closer to his own door.
Tags: deputies · misconduct · Ray Lewis1 Comment
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I’ve always thought those titles were oddly Soviet; like “First Deputy Prime Minister” or “Second Deputy Party Secretary”.