Boris Watch

The Telegraph reports that Boris has commissioned the Mckinsey management consultancy firm to “carry out a…review of London’s status as one of the world’s leading financial centres”. McKinsey, one of the world’s most respected consultancy firms, with an estimated annual revenue of $4.37 billion, will work with a panel of prominent senior City figures, including [...]

The London Assembly Elections Review committee have launched an invistigation into the reports of the Open Rights Group, a technological organisation who claim that there is ‘insufficient evidence’ to justify the stated electoral results. They’d like to hear from you.
“The Committee would like written views and information from anyone [...]

Dave writes that, contrary to previous reports, Tim Parker - the man holding Boris’s right hand - will not submit a Register of Interest to the GLA website. Simon Barnes and Kit Malthouse have already, but it seems that Parker - “one of the UK’s most successful businessmen with an impressive track record in a [...]

It’s becoming increasingly clear that when Andrew Gilligan sits to write a column, he removes the glasses displayed in his byline photograph and dons a pair of rose-tinted spectacles.
He can be an excellent journalist, but his self-proclaimed ‘war with Ken‘ seems to have led to something altogether more amicable with Boris. Though journalists are never [...]

While views have been flying back and forth regarding the validity of James Mcgrath’s sacking, the ex-aide has been quietly consulting his lawyers. Pandora at the Independent reports that letters have been sent to the BBC, demanding an apology after their misquoting.
Originally the BBC quoted McGrath as saying to Marc Wordsworth that “black people who [...]

The London Development Agency is looking for a new Chief Executive. They dangle a ‘significant six figure salary‘ in front of prospective applicants and demand ‘truly exceptional leadership credentials gained in a complex, dynamic environment‘.
The Times, however, claims that the Agency will in fact seek ‘an entire new board when the members’ four-year term expires [...]

I promise, or at least hope, that is my last excursion into gossip, but I can’t help noticing the developing friction between Boris and Assembly member John Biggs. It is probably to be expected, as the latter is Deputy Chair of the Labour Group, but even with that considered, he seems to be fashioning himself [...]

The Standard reports on an inevitable cluster of sackings:

“Boris Johnson continued his City Hall clear-out today as five senior staff known as “Ken’s wimmin” lost their jobs.
Ken Livingstone’s partner Emma Beal, who was employed by the ex-Mayor as his “administration manager”, was the most high profile of those whose posts were axed.
Mr Johnson [...]

Policy Exchange is a British think tank, whose mission statement claims that it attempts to ‘develop and promote new policy ideas’. The Telegraph described it as “the largest, but also the most influential think tank on the right”, while The Guardian lambasted it as a “neo-con attack dog”. Despite the organisations claim to be “independent”, [...]

Those who were revolted by Ken’s record of nepotism will be perturbed by the news that Guto Harri, the Mayor’s new spin doctor, has been friends with Boris since their days at Oxford. One doubts that this will raise too many eyebrows, however, as Guto was a respected BBC presenter, not a member of Socialist [...]