Boris Watch

Obviously, the Mayoral campaign Boris ran was infested with a certain amount of alarmist tabloid nonsense.  Obviously, a lot of Tories and their cheerleaders have a bee in their bonnet about ‘political correctness’ and other imaginary nonsense, demanding that funding to various blameless volunteer groups be slashed, taking the anti-racism out of anti-racist festivals, etc.  Obviously, a key bellwether of Boris getting a grip is when he jettisons these in favour of evidence based policy.

There are two indicators this week that this process is underway.  First, as Dave Hill reports, the Pride festival reception was treated to the following mea culpa from the Mayor, distancing himself from the Ken-bashing anti-PC bigot wing of the Tory Party and aligning himself with what sounds suspiciously like the post-Livingstone London centre ground:

We have to be honest and say that 30 years on that carnival vision of London as a place of generosity is more or less what we see around us, and I think that is a great achievement…and it’s something I intend to stick up for as long as I am mayor.

Good for him, although obviously we’ll be watching for, amongst other things, the return of anti-racism to next year’s Rise festival, please, as an admission of the clumsy way it was removed this year.  Again, this shows that Johnson’s instincts are a lot more in tune with London than his various external advisors and think tank wonks, which is why we’re so keen on working out whether he’s actually running the place or not.

Next, the hot issue of knife crime, on which Boris (and Kit Malthouse, who as a man from the boroughs is probably more inclined to the reality-based community by definition) has been addressing the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee.  The background is obvious, generally falling crime in London (acknowledged by Boris already in a previous fling with reality), minor fluctuations across the country but a rise in some areas and a definite and worrying fall in the age of victims and assailants.  This is quite apart from the fantasy world of the tabloids where ‘WE’RE ALL GOING TO GET STABBED!  THEY’RE OUT TO GET YOU’.  A few snippets from the ball-by-ball on the Guardian’s website:

Boris says overall knife attacks have not gone up. But the numbers of young people being stabbed has risen.

…

Labour’s Karen Buck says that 98% of violent crimes take place in areas, or involve people from areas, of extreme deprivation. Will Boris continue with Ken Livingstone’s policy of addressing deprivation issues?

Absolutely, says Boris. It won’t deliver immediate results, but in “five or six years” it could.

…

On stop and search, Buck says that lots of young people “stash” knives where they can get them quickly, rather than carry them.

“The short answer is ‘yes’,” Boris says.

…

The Metropolitan commissioner is jointly accountable to the mayor and the home secretary. Boris says he and Jacqui Smith are working well together.

…

Labour’s Margaret Moran says Boris was committed to increasing the number of rape crisis centres in his campaign. So why is he reducing the budget for domestic violence?

Boris says that that is not his policy.

Moran say she understands he has “reduced, downgraded” the GLA’s domestic violence strategy.

Boris, again, refuses to accept this. Malthouse intervenes to help him out.

…

Tory MP Patrick Mercer asks what impact the publicity given to the latest allegations of racism in the Met might have on recruiting.

Boris says he hopes the answer will be “none whatsoever”. It is important for London to be policed by an ethnically diverse police force.

The Guardian’s man, Andrew Sparrow, summed things up:

Boris sounded far less alarmist about knife crime than he did during the mayoral campaign. He acknowledged that overall attacks are not going up, but that the problem is the increasing number of attacks on young people.

So what do we see?  A bit of rhetoric about restorative justice and stop and search aside, there’s a refreshing lack of the shallow tabloid lock-em-up populism act David Cameron is doing in TV studios the length of London.  Instead we see recognition that the problem is localised, linked to deprivation (rather than, as the tabloids would have it, lax penal policy and soft leftie do-gooders) and he’s even aware that people are smart enough to get round police stop-and-search by stashing knives.

It’s an important insight into the problem to assume at the outset that you’re dealing with rational human beings taking a conscious decision to carry a knife rather than the subhuman monsters beloved of the tabloids.  There’s a lot of research on the way humans behave out there that is a far better guide than the Daily Mail editorial.  In tabloid world you just search every black man under 20, lock up the ones carrying knives for ever and the problem is solved.  Someone appears to have told Boris that this is cloud cuckoo land, possibly Malthouse, who others have reported is quite impressive in his grasp of detail.

However, this wouldn’t be Boris Watch without pointing out another inconsistency - Boris is apparently unaware of changes to the GLA’s domestic violence strategy - I have absolutely no doubt that he’s genuine on this, and it’s possibly another indication of early decisions made by advisors without consulting the boss.  After all, Ken’s domestic violence strategy consists partly of handing out grants to ‘wimmin’s organisations of exactly the type the anti-PC bigots have attacked for 30 years (and given the figures on reductions in domestic homicide, this policy is quite possibly largely responsible for the fall in the murder rate since 2002).  Perhaps they thought that London would be right behind slashing the budget for a few do-gooding lefties?  Perhaps we’ll find out when he answers this question:

Joanne McCartney: The current, very successful, London Domestic Violence Strategy ends in September. Do you intend to commission and produce another updated strategy, and if so, what resources will you be allocating to this important area of work?

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Following the speculation of today, Simon Milton has resigned from both of his posts, and has been nominated as Deputy Mayor for Policy and Planning. He will regain his salary and join the swelling ranks at City Hall.

The Press release reads thus:

“Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has today nominated Sir Simon Milton as Deputy Mayor for Policy and Planning. Sir Simon has announced his intention to stand down as a Westminster Councillor and as Chairman of the Local Government Association, once a successor has been nominated. His appointment as Deputy Mayor for Policy and Planning will be subject to the appropriate procedures, with an interview panel chaired by Greater London Authority Chief Executive Anthony Mayer, which will include an independent element and a confirmation hearing, if required, by the London Assembly.”

Milton’s resignation comes just before a debate on the possible breaching of the Widdecombe rules. Remember Boris saying that his appointment was legally ‘watertight‘? I suppose, once again, that we’ll never know.

Tips of the hat to Tory Troll in the comments and Dave Hill for the press release.

Tags:   jobs · salaries · transparencyNo Comments.

As Tim Parker ‘considers’ the position of Simon Milton, rumours are suggesting that the councillor and adviser will be forced to step down from one of his roles. Dave Hill even proposes the possibility that he may be made into another deputy, which would surely be Boris tempting fate.

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It’s been revealed that during investigations for the soon to be released audit report, Patience Wheatcroft contacted Ken Livingstone offering a formal meeting with the panel.

“Dear Mr Livingstone, You will be aware that the current Mayor asked me to chair a Forensic Audit Panel looking into the operations of the GLA and the LDA. During the course of our work we have interviewed many members of the Assembly, LDA board and executives and GLA executives. It would be helpful if we were also able to talk with you. I know that an informal invitation to you has been extended and rejected but I would now like to issue a formal invitation to you to meet with the panel.”

Livingstone has replied thus:

Dear Ms Wheatcroft, You are a member of the Conservative Party. Two of the other members of your body are members of the Conservative Party - Stephen Greenhalgh and Edward Lister. A fourth, Patrick Frederick, is Chairman of Conservative Business Relations - South East England & Southern London, and therefore presumably a member of the Conservative Party as well. How can any body of which 4 out of the 5 members are members of the Conservative Party be considered impartial and objective in any way? It is evidently not independent or objective but a Conservative Party body.

I note that when you were appointed you did not bother to state that you were a member of the Conservative Party, nor did you state it in subsequent television interviews. Your membership of the Conservative Party was revealed only in your Declaration of Interest to the GLA. It is evident that it if it was intended to have an independent investigation into any matter it should not be headed by a member of a political party. Any person who wished to lead, and wished to be seen to lead, an objective and impartial enquiry would clearly have refused to chair a body with such a composition.

I also note the further irregularities that have occurred during your being chair of this body. First your son Kelham Salter was appointed to a post in the GLA – even though journalists have been informed he is not paid this is not an action of the type that would be expected from the chair of an independent ‘forensic’ body. You attended the Mayor’s Press Conference on 3 July, held to defend Ray Lewis, sitting in the front of the audience with Tim Parker, First Deputy Mayor, and also a supporter of the Conservative Party – not an independent chair.

There were clear irregularities in the procurement of PWC to do £50,000 of work for your committee. The contract was awarded by your committee which includes Andrew Grove, who is a partner of PWC – a clear conflict of interest and meaning that the auditors used were not independent of the Committee. No other companies appear to have been invited to tender.

In light of this it is evident that one of your recommendations should be that the amount paid annually to PWC in consultancy fees in the last four years be published and a record of how much is paid to PWC in consultancy fees each year in the next four years should also be published.

I also note that the genuinely independent inquiry into issues raised in regard to Lee Jasper headed by Rabinder Singh QC, of Matrix Chambers, was abolished by the Mayor to be replaced, as stated, by one in which 4 out of 5 members were members of the Conservative Party.

I am of course completely willing and keen to work with any genuinely independent body, such as the London Assembly or independent auditing companies, which are looking into any matters of public interest that relate to the time I was Mayor. In regard to present matters they would record, for example, that I suffered only one enforced resignation of any of my most senior officials during eight years – a record that compares very favourably to national governments of both parties, while the present administration has suffered the enforced resignation of two of its most senior officials in only two and a half months in office.

Such objective investigation would also reveal the incredible costs being imposed on London by the new administration which far exceed any issue you were asked to look into – the £30 million a year extra cost to TfL for implementing the cycling programme now that the income to cover it from the £25 a day CO2charge on gas guzzling cars will not be received, the embarking on a programme for a new Routemaster bus with conductors which all independent transport experts estimate will cost over £100 million a year, the loss of £15 million to pay for half price travel for those on income support from Venezuela with the result Londoners will have to pay for any scheme for subsidised travel, and the £400,000 legal fees paid to Porsche. As a result of this Londoners will be hit by tens of millions of pounds worth of unnecessary new charges.

To cooperate in any way with your purely Conservative Party dominated body would be to lend it a facade of independence and objectivity which it clearly does not possess. I regard the fact that your body has no objectivity and independence as a matter of public interest therefore I am releasing this correspondence to the press.”

One can’t help but feel that the last laugh in this case is going to be long, loud and public.

H/t - Dave Hill

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Via the FT, our tips for the future:

“Three Johnson supporters gave more than £1,000 of wine from their own cellars for other events. In his return to electoral authorities, Mr Johnson names almost 250 donors who gave between £100 and £25,000. Corporate donations in-cluded: £25,000 from Addison Lee, the taxi and courier group; £5,000 from Orange Aero, the aircraft engine maker; and smaller sums from property groups.”

“Prominent City donors included: Sir Mark Weinberg, of St James’ Palace Capital; Franck Petitga, of Morgan Stanley; Sebastian Grigg, of Credit Suisse; Ryan Robson, of Sovereign Capital; and Crispin Odey, of Odey Asset management. Ivan Fallon, chief executive of Independent News and Media, the owner of the Independent, donated £100.”

H/t - Dave Hill

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Make bus and train prices higher!

Oh…hang on…

Tags:   TfL6 Comments

It’s interesting to notice that while James McGrath was sacked by Conservative Central Office (er, I mean by ‘Boris’) for saying something which could just about be construed as racist if taken out of context, it appears to be perfectly acceptable for the latest high-profile all-powerful appointment at City Hall to come out with something which it’s almost impossible not to construe as sexist.

It just goes to show that (a) the Tories are far more sensitive to charges of racism than sexism and (b) sexism is rather easier to get away with these days than racism.

Incidentally, since I appear to be casting the first stone here, do any women want to write for Boris Watch? Not that I run the place, but it occurs to me that all the active contributors here appear to be male, which makes us no more representative of Boris’s electorate than his own administration is. If you want to join the “hair-splitters convention”, just register as a user and then comment here and I’ll get in touch with our helpful administrator and ask him to grant authoring capabilities to you.

Tags:   sexism · Tim Parker2 Comments

News reaches us from central London that Wall’s ice cream company have come out against Boris… possibly. It does, I suppose, seem a bit strange that they would make this announcement via an advertising board on the pavement in Borough High Street, but here’s the photographic evidence:

Draw your own conclusions.

Tags:   graffiti · humour · ice cream1 Comment

The Tory Troll reports that Brian Coleman - the appointee to chair LFEPA - has reduced his annual taxi bill to £8321 following an intimidating total of £10000 last year…which is very public-spirited of him.

Fictitious reports suggest that surplus taxis were hired to ferry your money about.

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Thousands of London bus drivers are demanding the introduction of an equal pay rate. The Unite union has stated that 28,000 of its members voted by a margin of 99% in support of the motion, which would bring all of London’s operators in line.

Pay disparity for drivers working under different operators can be as much as £6000 a year, leading the unions to warn of a “race to the bottom” in wages and work conditions. The joint general secretary of Unite, Tony Woodley, has said that:

“Boris Johnson recently described London bus drivers as the “world’s finest”. If he really believes this then he needs to act quickly to end to the startling disparities in pay across London’s bus network. Our members have had enough and Unite is prepared to take all necessary steps in our fight to end these inequalities.”

A TfL spokesman replied that:

“Bus drivers are employed by private bus companies and as such pay and conditions are set by them.”

“We are sure the trade unions and bus companies will discuss pay and conditions as part of their normal negotiations.”

After temporarily weathering the RMT disputes, it will be interesting to see how Boris reacts to further conflict with unions.

A demonstration of bus drivers, engineers and supervisors is planned for the 24th of July.

Tags:   salaries · TfL · transportNo Comments.