Boris Watch

Going back to the the Venezuela Oil Deal for a moment, you may (the three of you who are interested in the minutiae, at least) remember that the deal was capped at $32m a year, or a percentage of the bus diesel use, whichever was lower.  Since the cost of diesel has rather risen, it’s likely it would always have hit $32m, which in the various PR battles over the scheme was always translated as £16m.

However, in recent days the gloomy UK economic forecasts have lead to the pound sliding against the dollar, presumably because the market expects an interest rate cut.  This now means that, at the BBC’s quoted rate of $1.8769/£1 $32m is now…

£17 049 390

So, the vastly rich state oil company (which trades entirely in dollars) would have seen no effect from this, but Londoners would have had an extra million quid in the bank to spend on, say, cutting fares for people on income support or making Parliament Square more cycle friendly.

Instead, Boris is going to hand back an unspecified amount.  Since the deal was done in dollars, presumably he’ll hand it back in dollars.  I hope we don’t have to buy them at today’s rate - I think someone should ask him.

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