Nick Boles is a key link between the Policy Exchange think tank and Boris Johnson’s mayoralty. Nick Boles has done the decent thing and admitted he put Boris up to appointing Lewis, which is another bit of evidence (along with the Routemaster competition*) of Policy Exchange being able to put its ideas into practice via Boris with very little scrutiny:
Yesterday Boles admitted that he had encouraged Johnson to recruit Lewis and said the appointment was made “in a bit of a rush”. He added: “I am willing to take responsibility for encouraging Boris to make this appointment. I don’t defend the appointment. I am happy to take my share of the flak.”
Flak on its way, Nick - you screwed up badly here. Now, will Boris follow his example and take responsibility for allowing unelected aides brought in from a think tank to do his thinking for him? Out with it, man.
* Oh, and taking the anti-racism message out of Rise, probably. Sounds like their work, particularly since Boris didn’t know.
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“Sounds like their work, particularly since Boris didn’t know.”
I’d bet metaphorical money that Munira Mirza - who has worked for Policy Exchange - was hired on Boles’s recommendation. Considering the Lewis affair, we should be told.
http://www.flintoff.org/really-saving-the-children
“On his first day as Tory leader, David Cameron visited Lewis’s Eastside Young Leaders Academy to launch the Social Justice Policy Group. Impressed by the boys’ discipline, Cameron joked that, if he hadn’t already appointed a chief whip, Lewis would have been perfect for the job. (The Conservatives have been so keen to co-opt Lewis that somebody put him up for the A-list of Conservative candidates. Lewis remains grateful for Tory support but insists he’s a floating voter.)
More than 100 community groups and local authorities have been in touch, asking to export the academy idea around the country. That will soon become a real possibility, because the Centre for Policy Studies is shortly to publish Franchising Ray Lewis, a guide to replicating the academy”.
A Ray Lewis franchise!
A rule of thumb is that while 80% of new businesses fail after five years, 80% of franchised businesses succeed. If that ratio holds true in the world of social entrepreneurship, we can expect to see Young Leaders Academies opening in other London boroughs and British cities.
How long will this be up?
[...] may be true, of course, that Ray Lewis was hired purely on the basis of Nick Boles’s recommendation. “As schools start issuing teachers with stabproof vests, Boris needs to get back to the [...]
[...] This whipping boy has surely been torn to shreds by now. Let’s look at the Mayor’s statement: “I was delighted when Tim Parker agreed to take charge of the Board on my behalf. Over the last few weeks, however, it has become increasingly apparent to both of us that the nature of the decisions that need to be take are highly political and there is no substitute for me, as the directly elected Mayor, being in charge. There are limits, therefore, to what can be delegated.” [...]