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Police called in, staggering taxi bills, Olympics budget gap – one week in Boris Johnson’s City Hall
Thursday, 25 June 2009 15:13
The last ten days have seen a growing sense of chaos and incompetence in Boris Johnson’s administration. The police have been called in over his disgraced deputy mayor, Johnson’s staggering taxi bills have been exposed, and there is growing concern over a multi-million pound Olympic budget shortfall. Johnson’s claim to be the “value for money” mayor is being exposed as nonsense.
Johnson’s Deputy Mayor for external relations has now gone after misuse of a Greater London Authority credit card. Clement is the third deputy mayor – Boris Johnson’s most senior level of appointments – to be forced out since the mayor was elected last year. It follows the forced resignation of deputies Ray Lewis and Tim Parker and the forced departures of deputy chief of staff James McGrath and Olympics adviser David Ross. London blogger Adam Bienkov comments: “You do have to wonder just what has been going on in Boris Johnson's administration. The man walks in dishing out vanity titles to any local big-wig, financial whizz kid, or snake oil salesman who wants one, and then stands in amazement as they fall down around him. And even after four of his other senior aides were forced out last year he’s still not learnt his lesson.”
The chaos poses some difficult questions for the Johnson administration. For a start, why did Boris Johnson take over personally signing off Deputy Mayors’ expenses? Boriswatch asks: “first, why did this change happen and second, is Boris qualified to do it, given that the first anomalies were discovered in November?” As Mike Tuffrey of the Liberal Democrats says "Since March 2009 the Mayor has been personally responsible for approving the expense claims of his Deputy Mayors. Serious questions remain about why Boris Johnson personally approved these claims, when staff knew there was a history of irregularities. The Mayor now needs to come and explain himself to the Assembly."
Two other stories, though less high profile, are piling on the pressure. Today’s revelation that the mayor has run up more than £4,500 in taxi bills explodes the myth of the value-for-money cycling mayor. The Standard’s Paul Waugh reports: “New figures released to the London Assembly show that Mr Johnson racked up bills that dwarfed those of Ken Livingstone and critics are now demanding detailed explanations for each journey.” In one example, Johnson travelled from N7 to N9 at a cost of £237.50. This follows the Standard’s story earlier this year that Johnson’s taxi bill is eight times higher than Ken Livingstone’s. Dave Hill recalls that when he challenged Johnson on a journey to a Bexleyheath police station last October the mayor’s response led him to wonder “if it betrayed a certain urgency in Boris to change the subject.”
Then there is the multi-million pound hole in the London Development Agency’s Olympics budget – from £60 million and up to £100 million in some reports. The story has been growing in momentum all week. The Observer commented that “the revelation will be embarrassing for Johnson, who strongly criticised previous London mayor Ken Livingstone's handling of the LDA; and it will lead to charges of financial incompetence from opponents of the Tory city leader.” Indeed. Incompetence and poor value for money are now defining features of Johnson’s administration.
Today’s New Statesman includes an article by Ken Livingstone. “Boris Johnson’s administration now resembles a ship with no clear course and with a crew losing members at an alarming rate, each one forced to walk the plank while the captain himself tries to persuade everyone else that nothing is wrong,” says Ken. He adds: “In all my time in the capital’s citywide politics, I cannot think of any comparable period of sheer disarray and instability. The charge of incompetence is being demonstrated repeatedly.”
Read Ken Livingstone’s full article here.
