Boris Watch

Brendan Montague reports at the Sauce…
FEMINISTS released attack alarms in City Hall today in a protest calling for Mayor Boris Johnson to secure funding for rape crisis centres.
Five women smuggled the alarms through security and set them off just after 11.30am as assembly members discussed how much money should go to referral and support centres.

Well, this is singularly unsurprising…

“BORIS Johnson was accused of “betrayal” today as it was revealed he has ditched plans for three rape crisis centres…
…today the Mayor admitted that funding for the three new centres, which would supplement an existing centre in Croydon, would not be found in his budget.
His office said he was “assessing rape [...]

Rebecca Hutson writes in Seven Magazine…
“It was therefore a welcomed relief when bumbling, politician Boris Johnson made rape crisis centres a central aspect of his mayoral manifesto, promising to pour £744,000 into the existing centres and build three more. He even went so far as to write to Liz Kelly, Chair of End Violence Against [...]

This is what Boris was saying before the election (in a letter to Liz Kelly, Chair of End Violence Against Women)…
“The next Mayor of London must show leadership if we are to end this crime…It is absolutely evident that we must be doing more to help, support and promote the assistance that is given to [...]

We’ve previously covered Boris’s backtracking on his pre-election pledge to fund more Rape Crisis Centres. (As I may have said before, I find it interesting that David Cameron has also promised some more of these under a future Conservative government: where’s the joining of the dots in the national media? Why did no-one ask Cameron [...]

Via The F Word, this is disgraceful…
“Jenny Jones, Green Party Assembly Member, today forced London’s Mayor to admit that he will not deliver new rape crisis centres in London on the scale he promised in his manifesto.
Before being elected, the Mayor pledged to provide £744,000 a year to fund the one existing rape crisis centre [...]

A few months ago I noted that Boris had, rather obliquely, admitted that he was going to stop holding and funding the Capitalwoman conference. Lis Ssenjovu has an update…
“After not getting a response on the status of Capitalwoman (despite multiple emails and messages) I wrote to my MP Diane Abbott. She responded as follows:
‘Unfortunately the [...]

Boris, in response to a question regarding the curtailment of street prostitution…
“In April 2009 I intend to publish my draft Violence Against Women Strategy which will include issues around prostitution.“
Now, let’s remind ourselves of Boris’s little encounter with the Commons…

“Labour’s Margaret Moran says Boris was committed to increasing the number of rape crisis centres in [...]