Here’s the best analysis of the CCHQ/London Tory spat that culminated in the ejection of Tim Parker. Amazingly it’s from the Evening Standard.
So senior Central Office figures, Lord Marland, the Conservative party treasurer and Nicholas Boles were sent to form a “transition team” to shore up Johnson.
Francis Maude, then party chairman, was also closely involved. Maude was a friend of Parker’s. The businessman had all the credentials: he had a proven track record of taking out costs, something the Tories believed City Hall desperately needed; he talked enthusiastically, always, about the need to provide value for money, of supplying the highest quality service at the best price ; he was personally wealthy and, following the sale of the AA to Saga, was available.
…
This approach took little account of the nuances of politics, of the need to keep the electorate on side. Neither did it pay much heed to the other senior members of the City Hall executive, in particular Tim O’Toole, boss of the London Underground and Sir Simon Milton, Johnson’s deputy mayor in charge of policy and planning. Both men are heavy hitters, vastly more experienced than Parker in their own fields - O’Toole in running transport, Milton, the former leader of Westminster council, in local government. Both found Parker hard to take…
Now read the rest. Nice to see Maude getting his, though.
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That is indeed excellent. I’ve not seen its author before and clicking on his name reveals a vastly diverse set of articles which don’t suggest he has previously covered the Mayoralty at all - impressive what insight he seems to have gained to write just this one article.
Good stuff, anyway. Sack Gilligan and commission more writing like this and I might actually be able to call the Standard a newspaper without putting quotes around it.
“It’s time for Johnson to show what he can do…
How many more times do we have to read that exhortation? The time for Johnson to “show what he can do” was before May 1st, not three and a half bloody months afterwards.
Gilligan, of course, is heavily identified with the whole Maude/Policy Exchange wing. The eclipse of Parker should mean him being cut down to size a bit. I noticed his most recent article was decidedly low-key. Anyone know how he hailed the appointment of Parker?
Did you see Gilligan’s little piece in the same edition? He ignored the whole Parker debacle and poked fun at the Chinese coverage of the Mayoral election. The funny thing was that it was more accurate than the Standard’s own!
Yes, Veronica’s Cat did keep his claws rather sheathed considering that his boy had just torn up the blueprint he’d enthusiastically welcomed only a few weeks ago. Fancy that.
To be fair to him he has criticised Boris more than usual today:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-mayor/article-23542274-details/Now+Team+Boris+really+needs+to+get+into+gear/article.do
Albeit with his usual swipes at Livingstone and trademark straw man arguments.