Boris Johnson may reverse on doubling of bus fares

Boris Johnson engineered yet another climb down today, hinting that he may now continue with half-price bus and tram fares for London's poor.

Boris announced last Sunday that people on income support would no longer benefit from half-price fares, after the current deal comes to an end in August. But in a victory for London's poor and after a week's worth of criticism, there are signs that a u-turn may finally be coming around.

The way in which the news was originally announced, and the way in which it so blatantly targeted the least well off was a worrying sign of things to come. But on the central and most important issue, it now seems that Boris has seen sense.

News of the possible u-turn came in response to dogged questioning by the Guardian's Dave Hill. Asked about how doubling fares for people on income support would fulfill the Mayor's commitment to narrow the gap between rich and poor, Team Boris responded that they would now ask Transport for London to "consider whether there may be alternative ways of providing this support." 

And although this is by no means a clear cut promise, it does look like people on income support may not have the cost of their fares doubled after all. And if this really does become another one of Boris Johnson's policy reversals, then I for once will not be complaining.

Boris Johnson bounces on campaign plinth promise

Boris Johnson today broke his promise to place a statue of a famous war hero on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square.

Boris was a prominent supporter of the 'Sir Keith Park campaign' that has lobbied to replace the temporary statues currently on the plinth, with a permanent statue of the Battle of Britain hero.

However, suspicions that Boris would make yet another 'dead parrot bounce' on this were raised after he failed to turn up to a campaign event alongside fellow mayoral candidate Brian Paddick. The event was also supported by a number of Tory and Labour MPs including Tony Benn and Norman Tebbit.

The news that he will now reverse on this campaign pledge was quietly slipped out in a written answer to an assembly member's question. Boris wrote that:

The fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square would be a wonderful spot (for the statue), but it now appears that complex planning issues would make it difficult to secure this location on an ongoing basis. There are also outstanding commitments to exhibit contemporary sculpture on the Fourth Plinth.

Perhaps if Boris had taken the time to check out those 'complex planning issues' before hitching himself to this particular bandwagon then he would have avoided some of the fire that is heading his way over this. Right-wing cultural pressure group the New Culture Forum for one are not impressed. In a post titled 'a timid, cowardly U-turn' they write:

Johnson has now acknowledged broad public backing for the plinth art over the last nine years. He said: "I recognise that this revolving programme has proved very popular and I welcome the important contribution it has made in shaping public debate about contemporary art. Precisely what 'broad backing backing'? What 'public debate'? From his statement, it seems that the mayor has not just withrawn support specifically from the Keith Park proposal, but from the whole idea of a more widely chosen, permenant fixture on the fourth plinth.

Whether or not Boris is in favour of a permanent fixture on the fourth plinth is neither here nor there. The fact is that he can't do it and would have known that he couldn't do it, if he had taken the time to find out. 

But like his pursuit of the mythical next-generation Routemaster, the temptation to make a dodgy promise without bothering to do the necessary research first was just too much of a temptation for him to avoid.

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Thanks to Mr. Stop Boris for the picture and Dave Hill for the extra info.

Boris Johnson hides salaries of 'transition team'

Boris Johnson promised a new era of tax-payer value and accountability, but now he is in power, he is refusing to say how much his 'transition team' of consultants and advisors will be paid.

Writing in response to a question from Darren Johnson, the new Mayor of London said that while details of his deputies' salaries had been released, 'it is not intended that the fees for these (other) individuals will be made public.'

Among the fourteen (above) 'consultants' being paid an unspecified sum from the public purse are members of top-flight public relations firm inHouse PR and a number of other members of Boris Johnson's election campaign team.

So while we now know that Boris's chief spin-doctor Guto Harri is being paid £124,364 for his services, we do not yet know how much the other spinners and fixers will receive.

The Tory Troll on Liberal Conspiracy

The Troll will be joining Sunny and the gang tomorrow for Londoners' last opportunity to have a drink on the Tube. However, in the meantime he has another post up on the excellent Liberal Conspiracy website. So head over there and join in the debate and kerfuffle on seasteading, libertarians and internet millionaires.

With Boris Johnson away, Tim Parker will play.

The Troll was criticised today for having the cheek to question Boris Johnson's early holiday. But to be honest, the main reason I was annoyed is that I now have much less to write about.

Because with our new mayor on the high seas and with Richard Barnbrook seemingly in hiding, things in City Hall seem to have been running without a hitch.

But under our noses, the man who now really runs the capital has quietly been polishing his knives.

Boris's new first deputy Mayor, head of TFl, head of the GLA and all-round asset-stripper overlord Tim Parker held a meeting with the entire staff of City Hall today. To a crowd of worried civil servants, Parker boasted of having previously 'outsourced' jobs abroad and then gone on to reap the rewards. 

But with most new jobs already outsourced to staunch Conservatives, some in City Hall are worried that any job losses will come from those on the left. And with no cuts yet announced, everybody there was looking for clues. 

And with civil servants hanging on every word, Parker warned them that putting their own interest before the organisation was 'cancerous' and said that job numbers 'were unlikely to increase.' 

And although he didn't say who or what cancerous parts would be treated, he did say that 'things would become clear' by the time autumn comes around. 

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So do you work at City Hall? Are you one of the "dogs in the manger"? Are you waiting to be "euthanised" by the Prince of Darkness? If so, then Tory Troll would like to hear from you ;)

Seasteading: a practical guide to bailing out

Rich American Libertarians are planning to live on huge metal platforms out on the ocean. Which is good news. Now if only all of our problems could be got rid of so easily.

Executives from Google and Paypal are financing the creation of new independent 'seastead' states which will be anchored out in international waters. Once built, anti-social millionaires fed up with those tiresome duties of having to obey laws and pay tax, can sink their millions into the project and rust their days out on the high seas.

Of course founders Patri Friedman and Wayne Gramlich don't quite put it like that. In their manifesto Seasteading: A Practical Guide to Homesteading the High Seas they write of new sustainable communities that will serve as models of 'open source' government. 

Each Seastead will have it's own rules and when one community fails, then you can just pull up anchor and join another. For Friedman and Granlich this is the Web 2.0 approach to governance, where the wisdom of crowds inevitably works for the benefit of all. 

And for these internet millionaires, the seastead project will prove once and for all the power and righteousness of the market. In the inspiring language of the international executive Friedman writes:

"This dramatically lower cost of switching providers promotes market feedback. If the government announces an unpopular policy on Monday, by Tuesday there may be nothing left but the capital building. This is true for any pet topic - libertarians and taxes, drug users and drug prohibition, pacifists and military expansion, environmentalists and pollution."

However, quite what will happen to those people left lingering on the failed seasteads, isn't made clear. 

But for these founding fathers, such details are irrelevant and as far as they are concerned will undoubtedly be solved by the users themselves. More important to them is the big idea itself. And like any new world, it's creators need a big mythology, and like any religious work, their bible needs it's parables too. First up we have the parable of Judy the Environmentalist:

"Judy felt frustrated as she left the city council meeting. Her proposal to levy fines on recyclables left in ordinary trash seemed to her like such a reasonable idea, why did it ignite so much argument? Americans generated such sickening amounts of trash - all she wanted was to help cut down on it a little bit. “For a town that was supposedly environmentally conscious, they are awfully close-minded around here”, she thought. She remembered that article she’d read about a Costa Rican ecovillage. It would be so relaxing and inspiring to live somewhere where everyone was of the same mind about not polluting the Earth. They could serve as an example to the rest of the world that you didn’t have to damage the environment to live. If only there was a place that was sustainable and civilized…"

So what's Judy's answer to cutting down the city's waste for the good of her fellow citizens? That's right, she's going to leave them all to wallow in it. And how is she going to set an example to these litter louts? That's right, she's going to make sure she never has deal with any of them ever again.

Next we have the parable of Glen the pacifist:

"Glen clicked off the news angrily. Another day, another half-dozen deaths from that quagmire in Iraq. And that was just US soldiers - who knew how many innocent Iraqi citizens had died? What he hated most was that he was paying for those bullets, paying for those bombs. Sure, he hadn’t voted for Bush, but the IRS took his tax dollars anyway. And not like the damn Democrats were doing much about all that military spending. It seemed like everyone in DC was on the take. One person just couldn’t make a difference in a country this size, not unless he was a billionaire or some kind of internet-activism genius. If only he could live somewhere where he only paid for things he approved of, or at least got to choose where his money went, he’d be so much happier…"

So what's Glen's solution to the problems in Iraq? That's right, to no longer have anything to do with them. And how is Glen going to ensure that the country is restored to a safe and peaceful state? That's right, by refusing to pay a cent.

And so, like the British conscientious objectors in WW2 who preached pacifism from the safety of their fortified island, Glen and his fellow seasteaders want to prove their righteousness from the platform of their million dollar buoys. 

And while the afflicted of Iraq and America will continue to suffer unheeded from their governments, Glen will be insulated by the warmth of his own smugness, and consoled by the thought of no longer having to pay for a dime.

Boris Johnson promises to work 'flat out' (on tan)

Daily Mail: Boris calls City Hall 'twice a day' from yacht

Tory Troll: Boris holidays as team doubles cost of fares

Boris Johnson minds the gap between fear and fact

Boris Johnson came to power promising to reverse the 'steady and undisputed rise in robbery' on London's streets and transport networks. But new figures out today show that the previous administration managed to halve the number of robberies on the Underground and substantially reduce almost all forms of Tube crime.

The figures published by the British Transport Police show that despite fearmongering by the Boris Johnson and his team, crime on the underground has dramatically decreased, with robberies down 51% in the last year alone.

And from listening to Boris Johnson's and Brian Paddick's campaign speeches, you would have thought City Hall had squandered all the capital's police money on advertising and PR, but these new figures confirm that there has been a 65% increase in the number of British Transport Police officers on the Tube and DLR.

However, as actual crime decreases, our new Mayor's fear of crime increases. Reacting to the new figures Boris Johnson said today:

"The reported cut in crime on the Tube and Docklands Light Railway is very encouraging, and is a trend that I fully intend to build upon as Mayor. Unfortunately many Londoners do not feel as safe as they should do when using the network, which is why we have made tackling transport crime one of our number one priorities. The transport network plays an important role in the lives of millions of Londoners, and it is essential that the tubes and trains are places where we can all go without the fear of crime."

But it is precisely that 'important role' that the network plays in people's lives that is the reason why fears should not be unnecessarily raised by politicians seeking power. 

Because the vast majority of people using the tube do so because they have no choice, and to deliberately frighten them as Boris did, despite the evidence that crime was falling, was as irresponsible as it was cynical.

So now you are Mayor Boris, I suggest you take the advice of your new pal Michael Bloomberg. Speaking to the BBC after meeting him, the Mayor of New York said:

"Boris has got to be seen out there with the average person. Be in the (places) that some people think are dangerous so he can show that they are not... if you can get more people in the parks you will have less crime. Crime goes to places where there aren't people."

As law-abiding Londoners desert an area, crime and disorder fills its place. And our Mayor it is now Boris Johnson's duty to make us feel as safe on London's Transport as these figures show we should be. 

Because unnecessarily heightening our fears may have got him into power, and posing as the man of law and order may keep him there for now. But if Boris Johnson is really going to help this city, as he says he wants to, then he should stop trading on our fears and start trading on the facts.

Thanks to Tom for the heads-up

Richard Barnbrook's councillors may lose salaries

BNP Councillors in Barking and Dagenham, may lose a substantial part of their wages after they bunked a staggering number of meetings last year.

Some of the councillors in Richard Barnbrook's London stronghold only attended six council meetings in the entire year, meaning they pocketed the equivalent of £1600 for each one. With the average council meeting lasting only two hours, this means that the BNP councillors have been working for an astonishing £800 an hour. 

With such poor value for money, Barking and Dagenham Council are now considering clawing back some of the cash.

The worst attendance rate was racked up by Councillor Jamie Jarvis who attended only 26% of the meetings he was required to, making Boris Johnson's record look positively glowing. When confronted by the Barking and Dagenham post, one BNP councillor, Mr. Darren Tuffs explained that:

"A lot of the reason (I don't turn up) is that I run my own business, and don't always know what I'm going to be doing during the day. I would have to apologise to my constituents. I do try and get to the meetings, but various circumstances stop me."

Quite what those 'various circumstances' are is not made clear. However, the thought of his hourly pay going beneath the £800 mark may well have been a factor.

The six highest charting non-attendees on the Council are all unsurprisingly members of the British National Party. Leader of the group and London Assembly member Richard Barnbrook accepted that his members had an awful record. Speaking to the Post he said:

"I appreciate that my own councillors don't have great attendance"

Let's hope that your constituents appreciate that too.

Boris Johnson goes on holiday as team double fares

Boris Johnson was on holiday as his team slipped out news of bus fares doubling for London's poor, it was revealed today.

The news came out after Boris Johnson was slammed for failing to attend the City Hall organized Africa Day celebrations, in Trafalgar Square yesterday afternoon.

Founder of the African awareness pressure group Ligali, Mr. Toyin Agbetu said of the Mayor's absence:

That Boris Johnson has chosen not to attend just shows his interest in the matter. I’m glad in a way that he did not attend, hearing what his views are, because I don’t think Africans should be used as a political tool, but on another level he has a duty to show up to show the institutional support of London.

The fact that our new mayor failed to turn up to yet another event is not hugely surprising. Nor am I particularly surprised that he has taken a holiday after only three weeks in the job. 

However, the fact that he should choose this particular time for the release of what is his most controversial decision yet, is a worrying sign of the sort of leadership we should expect for the next four years.

Richard Barnbrook shunned by London's youth

The British National Party's most powerful serving politician was stood up today by 100 young people he had arranged to meet at City Hall.

Last Sunday Richard Barnbrook visited Sidcup to recruit young people affected by the murder of Robert Knox. After returning from the visit he wrote on his Telegraph hosted blog that:

I have invited all of the young people there to come down to City Hall this Tuesday for 9:30 in the morning. This knife crime has to be stopped. If I have to bring a 100 young people into Boris's office then that is what I will do.

Yet as I stood waiting for the legions of Nazi youth to turn up, it soon became clear that nobody had taken him up on the offer.

In fact from when I arrived at just before 9.00 until when I left at just after 10.00, not a single young person came to join Barnbrook and his aides outside City Hall.

Because the BNP have boasted that Barnbrook's election is the latest step of a 'quiet revolution' that will bring them to power. 

But as I saw Dick shuffle silently back into City Hall, it became clear that this quiet revolution had just got that little bit quieter.

Richard Barnbrook stokes fears after teen murder

BNP assembly member Richard Barnbrook travelled to the scene of a teenager's murder yesterday, to exploit racial tensions within the community.

Speaking to camera next to friends of the murdered teenager Robert Knox in Sidcup, South London, Barnbrook said that:

"This is a sickening situation and it is primarily down to people coming to this country... the majority 75% (of murders) are done by ethnic minorities and when only 33% come from ethnic minorities, the figures speak for themselves."

After his visit Barnbrook wrote on his Telegraph hosted blog:

"Well let me tell you that times are changing. This is our city and we are going to take it back. We are going to take all the weapons of (sic) the streets even if that means sending in the Army to do it... if immigrants don't like it then they know where the airport is."

At the end of a half-crazed ramble that takes in everything from therapists to the SAS, Barnbrook writes that he will be holding a meeting at City Hall of '100 young people' tomorrow morning at 9.30 and that 'if I have to bring (them) into Boris's office then that is what I will do."

He then gives out what is presumably his own mobile phone number and asks readers to contact him if they want to attend.

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So do you want to meet Richard Barnbrook? Do you want to Watch the Wally at work? If so, you can call him any time of day or night on 07869 243 129 and he will try and get back to you.

Fleet Street buy Boris Johnson's spin on fare hikes

Boris Johnson's attempts to bury the doubling of fares for London's poorest people, as a story about Venezuela has worked, with all newspapers concentrating on the end of the Caracas deal.

Boris sneaked out the story on Sunday afternoon when most papers would have been winding down today's editions. His framing of it as ending a deal which 'many Londoners were uncomfortable with' has been faithfully repeated by staff reporters. The doubling of fares for London's poorest has mostly been consigned to the closing paragraphs.

When Boris moved into City Hall he brought with him a 'transition team' consisting of members of top Public relations company inHouse PR and the remaining members of his election campaign. The employment of ex-BBC man Guto Harri has also contributed to what is now a slick operation capable of burying bad news.

Even Johnson's opponents during the campaign have been brought onside with this startling apology from the Guardian for the cheek of having criticised Boris in the days running up to the election. The Guardian's Readers editor apologised after the paper apparently received letters and emails from 'readers' saying that they had given their vote to Boris because of the Guardian's stance.

After having received similar treatment from supposed 'readers' who then turned out to be part of Boris' campaign team, I am a little sceptical about the authenticity of such complaints. The inclusion of one of these astroturfers in Boris Johnson's 'transition team' at City Hall does not add much to my confidence either.

Scrutiny of Boris Johnson from the press was at best low during the campaign and is now in danger of becoming non-existent. There are some notable exceptions of course, but when it comes to watching the country's most powerful Tory politician, the so-called Fleet Street professionals have let themselves get left behind.

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-UPDATE- The Golden Spade prize for the best burying of the story goes to The Times who smothered the price hike under an old story about Ken's Beijing bus trip. That's some seriously good work from Guto and Team Boris! 

Boris Johnson doubles fares for London's poor

Boris Johnson will double the price of bus and tram fares for the poorest Londoners, he said today.

In an announcement slipped out on a Bank Holiday, the Mayor said that applications for half-price fares from people on income support would no longer be accepted from 20th August this year.

The half-price offer was established last year after an oil-deal was brokered between London and the Venezuelan government. Up to a quarter of a million Londoners on low-incomes were expected to benefit from the reduced fares while Venezuela were receiving technical advice and assistance from TfL.

In an attempt to justify the doubling of fares, Boris Johnson said today that:

'I simply think there are better ways of benefiting Londoners and better ways of benefiting Venezuelans.'

 

There has been no indication what those better ways might be.

The Mayor has also said that closure of the London/Caracas office will save (a pretty insignificant) £67,000 a year. However, none of that alleged saving will go back into either reducing fares for London's poorest or into improving the lot of Venezuelans. 

Ken Livingstone who established the discount fares, said today: 

"Regardless of Boris Johnson's objections to the oil agreement with Venezuela he has announced no alternative way to provide cheaper travel to the more than 80,000 Londoners on Income Support who benefit from the half price bus and tram fares. It shows that he is more interested in pursuing his right wing ideological agenda than improving the living standards of the most deprived people in the capital."

The employment of private equity boss and renowned asset stripper Tim Parker earlier this week was a clear sign that Boris was likely to pursue a number of cuts to services. However, it was not expected that he would do so quite so soon or that he would so blatantly target the poorest people in the capital.

Misdirection

The Mayor's attempts to frame the announcement as a positive for Venezeulans is also hardly credible as all TFL advice and assistance will now be withdrawn. Venezuela were also presumably happy with the arrangement as similar deals have now been set up with a number of American cities and states.

And although the effect of Boris Johnson's announcement on Venezuelans is difficult to gauge, the effect on London's poorest people will be easily felt. The signal it sends to the country is also not difficult to read. 

As Dave Hill points out on his blog today, Boris Johnson had explicitly promised to end 'the growing divisions between rich and poor' in his victory speech, but has now significantly increased that gap as one of his very first acts as Mayor. 

This coupled with schemes to take free bus travel away from rowdy children, and to scrap targets for affordable housing should send a clear message about who will, and who will not benefit from a Johnson Mayoralty and any Tory government that follows.

Cyclists turn on Boris Johnson over Bus Lanes

He is one of Britain's most famous pedalers, but this week London's cyclists turned on Boris Johnson over plans to allow motorbikes into bus lanes.

Members of the London Cycling Campaign have told the Mayor to backpedal from the 'snap decision' which was made in the latter stage of his election campaign.

LCC Chief Executive Koy Thomson said that the mayor's policy was based on 'flawed methodology' and would lead to an increase in road deaths and pedestrian casualties. Thomson said earlier this week:

"This would be a decision taken not only against the advice of transport officials and without the input of cycling and pedestrian groups, but also in the face of a warning that this could ‘disbenefit’ cyclists and pedestrians."

In fact officials at Transport for London have already spoken out against the policy, which they describe as ill thought out and dangerous. TFL Managing Director for Surface Transport David Brown said:

"There is no evidence to indicate that motorcyclists would see any significant safety benefits from being allowed to enter bus lanes but that there were potential disbenefits for both cyclists and pedestrians."

Because like Boris Johnson's plans to rephase traffic lights, the 'disbenefits' of this new policy would include a big increase in the number of fatal accidents and casualties. And while Boris and his boss are not particularly bothered about their own safety, this policy would put the safety of many more Londoners' lives at risk.

And unlike gang crime and the spread of knives and guns, safety on the roads is relatively easy to improve. And as Ken Livingstone proved in his own term, simple measures can save hundreds more lives than crime crackdowns ever will.

LCC's Campaign Manager Tom Bagdanowicz has said of Boris' rushed plans to allow motorycles into bus lanes:

“Providing new high speed channels for motorcycles along major roads will inevitably increase motorcycle use. More motorcycle traffic will spread to all streets in London and will bring with it an increase in casualties for vulnerable road users. We’re asking our supporters to urge the Mayor to consider the safety impact on all London streets for every road user before any decision on allowing high-speed vehicles into bus lanes is made.”

You can tell Boris to 'Stop, Look and Listen' to Londoners by signing the LCC petition here.

Will Boris Johnson get stung by his worker bee?

There's a very revealing piece by George Pitcher on the Telegraph website. Pitcher who knows Tim Parker well, reckons that Boris Johnson's appointment of this 'Slash and Burn' man will work out badly for both of them:

"I think he's riding for a fall. As is Boris Johnson. My colleague Simon Heffer wrote just before the Mayoral election that Boris has founded his various careers on "stooges", an observation examined at some length in another colleague Andrew Gimson's biography of the mop-haired Mayor. The stooges – at Oxford, in journalism and in politics – are the people who do all the work, while Boris concentrates on his more important task of self-aggrandisement."

"Parker, in Boris's mind, will be King Stooge. Boris doesn't understand business. Far too boring for a man of vision such as himself. Also, it's rather "trade" for a toff from Eton and the Bullingdon Club. So Parker will be his Managing Director, he thinks, and the one who can have all those tedious meetings about budgets while Boris gets photographed with Miss Bust-Conductor on a new Routemaster."

"The trouble with this plan is that, talented as he undoubtedly is, Parker is not essentially a runner of businesses. He's a turner-round of businesses and a deal-maker. He's a slash-and-burn man, laying waste to unproductive factories and under-performing people. He once told me that it's best to fire people as soon as you arrive somewhere, before you've got to know them. That may be just what London needs – some cost-saving at the centre, to better serve the interests of Londoners, who Parker calls "shareholders".

"But unless Parker is allowed to float London on the Stock Exchange, or organise a management buy-out of Chelsea, or break up Westminster and sell the profitable bits, he will quickly grow bored. Once he's made something pay, he wants out. In that sense, he is very much like Boris (though without the narcissism). He even shares a propensity for a storm of unruly, big hair (I note that reports have suggested he's known as the Prince of Darkness at companies he's commanded – I can only say that I only heard him called Bogbrush on account of his mop)."

"Parker is not so much a stooge as a sibling and there will be grim rivalry. Boris thinks he'd bought a drone. He'll get stung by a busy bee."

I don't normally quote at such length but this is fascinating stuff and very much goes against all of the praise Boris' new appointment has got elsewhere. 

As ever in papers such as the Telegraph and the Evening Standard, the most revealing articles are often resigned to the blog sections where few people will ever read them. 

But with the appointment of the man who will really be running London over the next four years, this is one article that deserves to be much more widely read.

Lily Allen says Paparazzi are like the BNP

Singer Lily Allen has lashed out at the paparazzi, claiming that "most of them look like they wouldn't be out of place at a BNP meeting."

After my own paparazzi efforts earlier this week, I can't help but be offended.

So come on paps, repair your reputation, and bash the fash with some Wallywatching of your own.

It won't take much. Just a few snaps of Richard Barnbrook goosestepping along to some ballet, or some pics of the great sculptor at work. But whatever it is, get yourself involved ;)

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Have you been watching Wally? Have you seen the berk in beige? If so, please send all pictures, sightings and related Wallyspots to Wallywatch at the usual address ;)

Richard Barnbrook wants more homeless Londoners

Richard Barnbrook of the BNP is fighting against the building of affordable homes in Barking and Dagenham because it will lead to 'more immigrants' living in the borough.

Barking and Dagenham is one of the most deprived boroughs in Lonson, but the British National Party's new star on the London Assembly is trying to prevent the building of thousands of new homes for low income people and key workers.

Barking Labour leader Cllr Fairbrass said earlier this week: 

"They voted against it. They also voted against Barking Riverside, where 4,300 affordable homes will be built.They will be social rented homes. That's the problem, they keep voting against them. There's no logic to it. It's as simple as that."

However a quick look at the BNP's London website reveals their logic all too clearly. Under the headline "Labour Government Builds Houses for More Immigrants in Barking and Dagenham," BNP Councillor and all-round yob Bob Bailey argues that 'key workers is a very loose term' and then argues that the houses will probably not go to those key workers anyway.

However, what the headline of the article reveals, is that it is not that the houses will not go to key workers, that is their problem, but that they will. 

Because the best available statistics show that ethnic minorities and immigrants are massively over-represented in 'key' job sectors such as social care and the NHS. And while ethnic minorities only make up around 10% of the population in Britain, they make up around 30% of staff in the NHS.

So while Barnbrook and the BNP pose as the friends of the working class, it is exactly those people that work the hardest in their borough that they would see without a home. And for every low-paid white person they keep out of a home is another opportunity for them to gerrymander a vote. 

Because the BNP have made gains across London by trading off of people's discontent. And the more people are kept out of buying their own homes, then the more they will reap the rewards at the polls.

So the next time Richard Barnbrook lectures the working class, from the comfort of his Blackheath flat, just remember that it is his interest and not theirs that he is really fighting for.

Boris Johnson or Tim Parker: Who runs London?

There was a lot of fuss before the elections about the fact that Boris Johnson wouldn't say who was actually going to be running London if he got in. Well with the appointment of Tim Parker yesterday as Chief Executive of the GLA, head of TFL, First Deputy Mayor and King High Lord of everything, we now finally know.

Multi-millionaire union breaker and asset-stripper Tim Parker has been given the keys to run pretty much everything at City Hall, and unsurprisingly it's causing a bit of a row.

Here's GMB union boss Paul Kenny:

"This is a scary moment for London’s commuters. Tim Parker is one of the multi-millionaire elite private equity buccaneers who asset stripped the AA by cutting jobs and cutting services and raising prices to customers. At AA he targeted and sacked by bullying out of the door the sick and disabled staff. He took £30 million out of AA when he left it last year, having saddled AA/SAGA with £4.8 billions of debt. The good work of the last number of years is under threat."

and Bob Crow:

Tim Parker has a reputation as a private-equity asset-stripper and has been dubbed the Prince of Darkness by unions that have encountered his methods in the past. We are well aware of his track record, and Mr Parker has the opportunity to leave that reputation behind him when he starts work for the Mayor of London. The world’s finest metro system does not need an asset-stripper or a Prince of Darkness, but it does need its modernisation programme put back on track if it is to be ready for the 2012 Olympics.

Believe me when I say that this is just a taster of the shit that is being kicked up over this. Labour Assembly Members are calling it a 'farce' and the Chair of the Assembly is even considering taking legal action. This looks to be building into a monster of a row and here's why:

Boris Johnson was elected on a manifesto of cutting waste. Londoners knew that as they put a tick in his box. However what they didn't know was that this would mean the kind of huge cuts and privatisation programme that Parker is well known for.

What they also didn't know was that London would be run by every Tory millionaire under the sun bar the actual Mayor himself Boris Johnson. And in the few short weeks that he has been in power, Boris has delegated almost every role the Mayor has to a team of unelected officials and consultants. 

Many of these are working for free, supposedly out of the goodness of their hearts and many are retaining other positions which have direct conflicts of interests with their new roles. In this short time, a whole network of power and influence has been built up in London over which the Mayor himself seems to have little control. So to what ends is this.

Of course Team Boris say this is all for the good of Londoners. Boris' new team of mega-rich capitalists have suddenly seen the light and want to spend their twilight years in municipal service of the city that has enriched them. But the simple truth is that we just can't know what their motives are.

Who now runs London?

Because although when you elect a leader, you normally know that many other people will be doing the work, you still believe that the person you elect and their elected deputies will be the people who will be in charge of it all. But after the last few weeks of appointments, it is clear that this is not now the case at City Hall.

Watching Boris fail to answer assembly questions on Wednesday it was clear to me that this man had absolutely no idea what was going on in his own administration. He had some jokes and some prepared responses, but when the meeting went off the script, he just didn't know what to say.

The same thing occurred to me then that has occurred to me almost every time I have seen Boris in action, and that is that Boris is in no way in charge of his own operation. 

So when Londoners elected him it is now clear that they didn't elect a leader but a frontman. However, when they elected him, they didn't know exactly what he would be a frontman for. But with the appointment of Tim Parker as City hall boss, this may finally be becoming clear.

Wallywatch at London Southbank

Today's Wallywatch comes from Queen's Walk on the Southbank and was found by a Wally Spotter who reads The Troll. 

The large drill is a gradually changing piece of art that appeared at some point in the last week. Apparently it's from the people that brought the Sultan's Elephant to London, and we don't yet know exactly how it will end up. 

I love these kinds of things. They make London the exciting place to be that it is and they have absolutely nothing to do with getting 'more bang for your buck,' as Boris Johnson would put it. 

However, you should probably enjoy them while you still can because all the signs are that this is exactly the sort of thing that we will be seeing less of now Dr Cuts and the Cutters have got into power.

---

Have you been watching Wally? Have you seen the berk in beige? If so, please send all pictures, sightings and related Wallyspots to Wallywatch at the usual address ;)

Does Boris Johnson know who is running London?

Boris Johnson has given away major powers on planning decisions to an unelected advisor, it emerged yesterday.

Under questioning from the assembly, the Mayor was forced to admit that Ian Clement and other advisors have been given these powers because he 'doesn't have the time' to exercise them himself.

Assembly members first discovered that the powers had been given away when they received copies of letters addressed to Local Authorities from Ian Clement stating that 'the Mayor has delegated his planning powers to me.'

However, when asked by Jenny Jones exactly what powers had been given to Clement, Boris said that he 'didn't intend to anticipate exactly what sort of decisions he will be making.'

Yet the planning letters sent out by Clement and seen by the Troll show that he was exercising these powers less than two weeks into the new administration, causing some opposition members to ask whether Boris actually knows what is going on. 

When asked, our new Mayor replied that he 'imagined' that Clement would be "taking decisions of great importance for Londoners as you would expect a Deputy Mayor to do."

Indeed Londoners would expect an elected Deputy Mayor to be making these kinds of decisions. However, Ian Clement is not an elected Deputy Mayor. Ian Clement is a paid advisor whose title 'Deputy Mayor, government relations' is not even a function represented in the law. As an unelected advisor he is therefore expected to give the Mayor advice on decisions. He is not however expected to make those decisions for him.

The revelation that Boris has already given up some of his key powers to unelected advisors has prompted some to question whether Boris can continue to do the five jobs that he has collected for himself. 

Because with no Henley by-election in sight and with Boris' job as the head of the Metropolitan Police authority not even begun, opposition members are now questioning if Boris' has the time to properly concentrate on what should be his most important role, being London's Mayor. Labour assembly member John Biggs said yesterday:

"Boris Johnson says he is too busy to make planning decisions. I wonder then where he finds the time to continue writing his £250,000 a year Daily Telegraph column?"

Boris' colleague at the Telegraph, Simon Heffer had the answer to these questions a month ago:

"There were stooges when Mr Johnson was en route to be president of the Oxford Union. He has had stooges all through journalism, who did significant parts of his various jobs for him, usually with little thanks or reward. And now there are stooges in politics.

If Mr Johnson became Mayor tomorrow, he would be the front man for nameless others who would run London. That may well be better than more of Mr Livingstone. It would not be what people think they are voting for."

---

Would you like to be one of Boris Johnson's paid stooges? Would you like a job that Boris just can't do? If so send a CV and sae to: HR Dept, City Hall, Queen’s Walk, London SE1A 2AA.

The Boris Johnson Attendometer

Here at Tory Troll, we intend to be punctilious in our following of Boris Johnson's every move. With that in mind we are today launching the BoJo Attendometer© 

The Bojo Attendometer© uses the latest technology to bring to you best available industry statistics on No-Show BoJo. Evaluation of the appropriate data, by leading experts has shown that Boris' current rate of attendance at City Hall meetings is 50%. It is very early days of course, but this data is broadly in line with previous statistics. 

And if current projections continue, Boris looks likely to match or even exceed his previous record. 

In fact earlier studies have shown that our new Mayor has a tendency to a narrow majority of non-attendance. In his other job Boris has attended 45% of the votes in the Houses of Parliament, a figure well below the average for MPs. Data for his many other jobs is not available, although anecdotal evidence appears consistent.

So although his level on the Attendometer© is unlikely to be quite as bad as 45% after four years in  the job, you can rely on us here at the Tory Troll to continue to monitor the figures.

---

Raw Data:

Question Time 21/05/08: Attended

Standards Committee 20/05/08: Bunked

Wallywatch at the London Assembly

Who's the berk in beige slipping through the back door of City Hall?

answers on the back of a postcard.

Boris Johnson laughs off legal row at City Hall

Meet the New Boss: Ken Livingstone looks on at Boris' first MQT

Boris Johnson attempted to laugh off legal difficulties with his appointments today, claiming that he was 'not aware' he had broken any legislation.

Speaking at the first Mayor's Question Time of his term, Boris accused the Labour, Green and Lib Dem members of 'quibbling' over legalities but admitted that he needed time to 'cross all the T's and dot the I's.'

In a characteristically relaxed approach to the occasion, Boris seemed unprepared for the detailed scrutiny about his advisors, and complained that it was only a matter of having 'sprayed a few titles about.' 

When asked why he had sprayed four of his appointments with the title of 'deputy mayor' despite the legislation only allowing for one, he answered that "the more deputy Mayors (he had) the merrier." The audience all laughed and the assembly received no further response.

Members faced similar difficulties with their questions about one of Boris' deputies, Ian Clement. Labour member John Biggs wanted to know why Clement had been given responsibility for planning decisions despite only being an unelected official. Again Boris didn't have an answer for the assembly at his fingertips, but said that he 'still needed help in adjusting to his role.' There was little danger of him enlightening Biggs any further so Darren Johnson had a go instead:

"It is quite reasonable that we shouldn't expect you to cross all the I's but on the matter of planning decisions these decisions are the most strategic of all planning decisions. Only the biggest of these ever come before you. Isn't it rather odd that these can be taken by an unelected advisor?"

Boris didn't admit to him that it was odd but did say that it was part of a transition period. The question of exactly what it was a transition to remained hanging in the air.

As further questions on his advisors continued to rain down on him, Boris started to look a little uncomfortable. "Have we got two and a half more hours of this to go" he asked. Everyone laughed. "You need to relax," replied the Chair. "I will make sure you are not here any longer than that."

As the hours dripped by Boris faced further inquiries on the appointment of his advisors, including his planning advisor Sir Simon Milton. He was asked if he was aware that this appointment broke legislation on politically restricted posts. He was not. 

Boris appeared slightly annoyed that he should be questioned regarding such 'minor edicts,' and accused his opponents of trying to smear his new team. His opponents replied that they had nothing but respect for them, but that the proper rules must be applied. Boris did not seem convinced.

On the hoof

As the meeting moved on to other matters Boris became strangely relaxed and began to make willful commitments to policies suggested by the opposition members. As an increasingly worried Tory contingent looked on, Boris seemed to become recklessly collegiate. 

Suggestions to place requirements for playgrounds in new developments were accepted as 'highly laudable' and a requirement to reduce waiting lists on homes was accepted almost without a thought. 

Stoutly Tory member Brian Coleman looked on anxiously for a while but eventually he had to speak up. Boris was halfway through welcoming some new policy from the Green Party when Coleman interrupted him and assured us that these were "aspirations, aspirations, aspirations." Our new Mayor was having none of it. "They're bankable commitments" he insisted. Buoyed by the thought one opposition member stood up and left the room. Presumably in search of a bank.

Ken's Verdict

After the meeting finished I headed out of the chamber to where Ken Livingstone was giving interviews. Ken has raised his profile in the last few days with announcements on a new book, a new radio show and even a new press operation. Today he was refusing to rule out standing for Mayor again next time and was even talking about being 'in opposition.' 

Whether or not he sees himself as the Shadow Mayor I'm not sure, but he certainly doesn't seem to be leaving the political scene. 

In between interviews with ITV and LBC I managed to grab a few minutes with him and asked him about the new Mayor's advisors:

"I think what (Boris) doesn't understand is that you are required to open up these positions to competition and to have a full tendering process. It is a requirement under the law."

I then asked him about rumours that his old adversary Steve Norris would run the crossrail project. He replied that as long as there was no conflict of interest with his other jobs, then it would be a sensible choice:

"I think he was quite unfairly treated by the press actually over the whole Jarvis thing. What people don't realise is that he made big improvements to the company, and that is never reported by the press. I think he would do a good job."

He looks up at me as I quickly scribble this down.

"But however he does, he will do a better job than Boris would."

And with that he's off to his next interview, and onto the latest leg of a very long campaign.

Boris Johnson told to 'correct' breaches of GLA act

Boris Johnson has been told to 'correct' his apparent breaches of the GLA act in order to avoid any official investigations into the appointment of his new advisors.

The comments came during the first meeting of the City Hall committee charged with dealing with complaints about assembly members and the Mayors conduct. And in what may become a running theme, Boris Johnson failed to attend.

Referring to the legal mess surrounding the appointment of both Kit Malthouse, who is  a sitting assembly member, and Simon Milton who is a sitting councillor, committee member Len Duval said:

"There have been at least two issues of a breach of the GLA Act. We need to get together now and make sure that this is corrected so that an official complaint does not need to be made. It is quite clear there is a problem."

In Boris' Johnson's place was the Deputy Mayor for Government Relations Ian Clement who is one of the few members of Boris' new administration whose appointment has not so far been criticised or had its legality questioned. Speaking on behalf of the Mayor, Clement said that Boris wished to herald in an era of 'clarity and transparency.' 

Quite how this is to be achieved when the appointment of two of his top advisors may not even be legal and when the Mayor himself cannot even be bothered to turn up to meetings was not made clear. However, Ian Clement made as good a stab at it as was possible in the circumstances.

Sadly without Boris' generous presence the meeting became a little dry. In fact to say it became a little dry is like saying the Thames has become a little damp. So dry did it become in fact that members of the press began their own impromptu meeting in the gallery. Independent Member Simon Green got a little peeved with this and interrupted the Chair to complain about the 'chatting' going on behind him. The chair quickly broke up the rival committee and all order was restored.

It was perhaps in anticipation of the meeting's dryness that the famously wayward Boris Johnson decided not to attend. Although the thought of having to answer questions about breaking the GLA Act after only a few weeks in office was probably not much of an incentive either. 

However, Londoners' long wait to see their new Mayor in action will come to an end tomorrow morning when he will face the full assembly for his monthly Question Time. Questions over his new appointments have not been put on the agenda unfortunately, nor have Barnbrook's calls to ban the promotion of black and brown cab drivers. 

However, if all goes well (and he turns up) there should be at least some answers to the many questions we have posed here at The Troll. Just don't expect any final answers on those disappearing Routemasters.

The Tory Troll in City Hall

The Tory Troll is off to City Hall now, to watch Boris Johnson get grilled, toasted and served up on the committee room table ;) He will report back in a jiffy...

The Tory Troll is 'Best of the Web'

The Guardian's excellent comment is free website have linked to my last post at Liberal Conspiracy, as part of their Best of the web section. Well who am I to argue?

Ken Livingstone attacks hesitant Boris Johnson

In a two-pronged attack on Boris Johnson, Ken Livingstone has both criticised his hesitancy to introduce the 24hr Freedom pass and slammed his attempts to prevent him from standing again.

The attacks come after the Mayor has faced a series of difficulties over his new appointments and in a week when he is due to face his first grilling from Assembly members.

Freedom Pass

During the campaign for Mayor, Boris was forced to declare his commitment to the 24hr Freedom Pass after his team issued a statement labeling the scheme as 'mad'. However, Boris then only committed himself to 'working with the boroughs' to achieve it's implementation. This was a less than convincing pledge given the previous reluctance of many of the boroughs to do so. 

On Boris' failure to commit to an immediate roll-out of the scheme, Ken Livingstone said today:

“The first pledge I made during the Mayoral election campaign, on 15 January, was to make this extension so that the pass can be used around the clock. Boris Johnson was then forced to match it.

“There is no reason whatever why the 24 hour extension cannot be implemented immediately as there are no technical obstacles to this. On Wednesday (Mayor's Question Time) Boris Johnson must therefore honour the pledge extracted from him in the course of the election campaign and announce immediate implementation of 24 hour operation of the Freedom Pass.”

Term Limits

Ken's second attack came after Boris announced his intention in the Evening Standard to prevent any candidate from standing for Mayor once they had already served two terms. Livingstone, who has not yet ruled out restanding, then sent out the following statement, reprinted by Dave Hill here:

"Only three weeks into his Mayoralty Boris Johnson's letter to Hazel Blears calling for no Mayor to be allowed to serve more than two terms shows he believes his administration is going to fail and he is manoeuvring to try to undemocratically prevent Ken Livingstone running against him in 2012.

This assessment by Boris Johnson is entirely realistic. After only three weeks it is already evident his administration is a going to be a shambles - it has abandoned his flagship pledge to introduce a new Routemaster, it has been forced to abandon as illegal its attempt to employ Sir Simon Milton as the planning adviser, it has moved to scrap half yearly taxi safety testing and, in what will be the first of many steps alienating environmentalists, it has backed an energy guzzling desalination plant for Thames Water rather than keep up the pressure for them to stem to (sic) vast loss of water from its antiquated pipe network.

In these circumstances it should come as no surprise that one of Johnson's first concerns is to try to undemocratically block Ken Livingstone from unseating him in 2012."

Now whether or not these attacks hit home will depend entirely on the responses that Boris makes this week in City Hall. 

Because tomorrow, we have the first meeting of the new Standards Committee, where Boris will face some serious questions over his bungled appointments so far and the conflicts of interests that surround them. If he fails to give adequate responses to these questions then he risks seriously damaging the progress his administration has made so far. 

The very next day he then faces his first questioning from the entire Assembly at Mayor's Question Time. Among the questions posed will be one about the implementation of the 24hr Freedom Pass. If he fails to shut down the issue at that point, then he will risk falling under the same kind of repeated difficulties that he has faced with his Routemaster proposals. 

So while Ken Livingstone's attacks today will no doubt be criticised by the Evening Standard and the other usual suspects, if Boris cannot clear up the many problems he has already given himself so far, then it will not just be the spectre of Ken that will be haunting his days in City Hall.

Boris Johnson's advisor loses salary in legal row

Boris Johnson's senior planning advisor has been forced to forego his £100,000 salary after it was revealed that his appointment creates serious conflicts of interests.

The appointment of Sir Simon Milton was widely criticised after he refused to immediately give up his other roles as a Westminster councillor and as the Chairman of the London Borough's lobbying organisation, the LGA. 

Doubts over his independence were then further raised after it was revealed that Milton's life partner is none other than the planning supremo at Westminster City Council, Robert Davis. When questioned about his partner's new role, Davis said that 'he looked forward to 'pillow talk' and having a 'word in the ear' with Milton about how Westminster planning matters would be dealt with by Mayor Johnson.'

So while Milton's decision to work for nothing will save the taxpayer some money, and prevent Boris Johnson from breaking the Local Government Act so early on, it does not remove the continuing doubts over the independence of of the man charged with advising him on planning.

Paul Dimoldenberg who famously chronicled the corrupt practices of the Westminster City Council that Milton was a part, said of Boris Johnson's decision:

After all the allegations against Ken Livingstone, Boris Johnson's first major appointment turns out to be his first major gaffe,' Dimoldenberg said.' 

Milton has got a clear conflict of interest between his role as Westminster councillor and adviser to the mayor on planning. Westminster receives the largest number of planning applications in the country and deals with some of the most strategic planning issues in London.' 

In addition, his current partner is planning chief of Westminster. From what Councillor Davis says, there will be no transparency, which goes completely against what Johnson said his mayoralty would be about.'

Corruption

Boris Johnson today announced that he would support a term-limit being imposed at City Hall as it would help prevent corruption. However, as the Homes for Votes scandal showed at Westminster City Council, it is not time itself that creates corruption, but an absence of proper processes to detect and prevent it. 

So by installing two senior advisors in Milton and Malthouse who both have substantial conflicts of interests with their other roles, Boris Johnson has failed the first test of a transparent administration. Let's just hope that it is not the first of many.

The Tory Troll on Liberal Conspiracy

The Troll has been visiting his new baby niece (she was a little scared) but he is now back and trying to catch up with some of stories that some very kind readers have sent in.

In the meantime I have another one of my posts up over on the excellent Liberal Conspiracy website. So head over there and join in the debate with Paul Linford, Tim Worstall, Unity and others on righty bloggers, David Cameron and some fella named Iain Dale.

Boris Johnson: Dishonesty and Incompetence

During his campaign to be Mayor, Londoners were told that Boris Johnson's journalism career showed what he could really achieve in his political career. But when Londoners turned round and quoted the results of that career, they were accused of smearing and traducing him.

But now those smears and battles are over, we are again being told that his journalistic successes are a sign of his future political successes. Boris' glittering career, the Evening Standard tell us, shows us that only he has the 'Honesty and Competence' to do the job. 

So now we have four years of that honesty and competence ahead of us, let's look at some previous examples of his honesty and competence, told by the people who saw them first hand- his fellow journalists:

Honesty

Boris Johnson apparently had some success as a correspondent in Brussels. However, Boris' initial success was perhaps not all that it seemed, as Matthew Bell reveals in today's Independent on Sunday:

Matthew Bell: During his time as Brussels correspondent for 'The Daily Telegraph', Boris Johnson impressed his editor by filing story after exclusive story, all apparently unnoticed by other papers. There were mutterings that these scoops were perhaps not as firmly wedded to the truth as might have been desirable. Most memorable among them was a story in 1991 following an announcement by the European Commission that it was leaving its Berlaymont headquarters because of the health and safety risks from leaking asbestos. Johnson's explosive take on this was that the much-despised building was subsequently to be blown up. Seventeen years later, although it is now free of asbestos, the EC has yet to pack the walls with dynamite.

After Boris gained his first journalism job at the Times, he quickly lost it again when it was discovered that he had invented a quotation from his godfather, Colin Lucas. The quotation lost Boris his job and seriously damaged the academic and professional reputation of his godfather.

Boris Johnson: It was a complete nightmare of a disaster, and to make it even worse, that very week Colin was trying to become master of Balliol College. He later succeeded - but not that time. Of all the mistakes I've made, I think that takes the biscuit.

Competence

Boris Johnson's editorship of the Spectator and it's increased circulation is held up by supporters and himself as an example of why he is up to the job. Boris, we are told 'is a master of delegation.' However, quite how much of a master he is, was revealed by one of his colleagues at the Spectator:

Matthew Parris: Having been one of Mr Johnson’s stable of writers when he was editor of The Spectator, I must challenge Ken Livingstone’s complaint that as former editor of a small right-wing magazine, the only administrative decision Mr Johnson ever took was choosing a restaurant for lunch. This paints an exaggeratedly hands-on picture of the Boris management style. His secretary did that kind of thing. You were just lucky if Boris came to the lunch.

During the campaign, this tendency to miss appointments was revealed in a number of cancelled appearances and hustings. All of which was no surprise to a fellow journalist at The Times

David Aaronovitch: There is hardly a senior soul in this business who hasn't turned up to an evening with Boris, to discover that it is an evening with anyone but. "I'm sorry," says the chair, anticipating the boos of disappointment, "but Boris Johnson is unable to be with us." followed by some lie."

When Boris couldn't or didn't make it to some of these appointments he would sometimes send a weary representative in his place. This was a trend noticed by another colleague at The Telegraph:

Simon Heffer: There were stooges when Mr Johnson was en route to be president of the Oxford Union. He has had stooges all through journalism, who did significant parts of his various jobs for him, usually with little thanks or reward. And now there are stooges in politics. If Mr Johnson became Mayor tomorrow, he would be the front man for nameless others who would run London. That may well be better than more of Mr Livingstone. It would not be what people think they are voting for.

So there you have it. Honesty and Competence in equal measures. 

So as Boris reveals exactly what he will and will not be doing over the coming weeks, let's just hope that his future successes are not achieved in quite the same ways as his previous ones were.

Richard Barnbrook's questions for Boris Johnson

Of the hundreds of questions submitted for the Mayor's Question Time next Wednesday, Boris Johnson will only answer 26 of them in public. Of these questions only one will come from Richard Barnbrook of the British National Party. Here it is:

Richard Barnbrook: During the election campaign you promised all retired Londoners a 24 hour travel freedom pass. When will this pledge be actioned?

Which is all very friendly and workmanlike. Now here are the questions Boris won't be answering from Barnbrook in public:

Richard Barnbrook: Will the new Mayor repudiate his predecessor’s plan in respect of black cab drivers by positively discriminating in favour of members of some ethnic groups over other ethnic groups through a scheme (the BAME and Knowledge programme) run by the London Development Agency set up in October last year?

and

Richard Barnbrook: The GLA website has translations in thirteen different languages. What is the annual cost of these translations and how many hits does each translated file receive each year? Given the clearly and democratically expressed desire of the majority of London voters for an end to tax-payer-funded Politically Correct gesture politics, will the Mayor encourage community cohesion and save money by ending this unnecessary expenditure? 

and finally

Richard Barnbrook: Will the Mayor acknowledge the key role of England in the building, running and financing of London by making the national day an officially recognised celebration, pressing central government for it to be made a national bank holiday, and funding major celebrations in Trafalgar Square on April 23rd and on the Saturday nearest to it? 

Of the three suggestions I am most taken with the final one. Any piece of legislation that lets us see this every year has got to be welcome in my eyes.

The Tory Troll in The Guardian

The Saturday Guide plus Dave Hill's contributions are just two reasons why The Guardian is still a worthwhile read. 

Which made it all the better to discover that they have both linked to The Troll this week. 

So head over there and there so you can turn around and head back over here again (if you see what I mean)

Which way will the right-wing blogosphere turn?

Now that the Tories are dead-certs to get their greasy hands on the rudder, it will be interesting to see which way the right-wing blogosphere will turn.

Because although some like Iain Dale will merge indistinguishably into the new establishment, others especially those on the Libertarian Right will face more of a dilemma.

Because right-wing and anti-establishment blogs have flourished under New Labour. The Freedom of Information Act and the daily soap opera that was the Blair vs Brown show have provided them with reams of winning material. They have used this material along with the tools of ridicule, rumour and humour to fight for the the golden pot of Labour destruction at the end of an ever-retreating rainbow.

However, once that pot is finally found, many will look around them and wonder just where in the hell they have got themselves and where in the hell they will go next.

The Dales of this world will revel in the glory of course, and others like Guido will probably continue to milk the Labour cash cow. But those on the right with a bit more nouse and a bit more courage may well try to keep their anti-establishment position and set themselves up as disgruntled righties with a taste for Nu-Con blood. 

And like the unofficial coalitions set up to oust Blair, new coalitions will be forged between left-wing and libertarian blogs as the Tories inevitably reveal themselves in their true Daily Mail colours.

There are already signs that this is in the post. Venomous libertarian righty Devil's Kitchen launched his first sally against the new Tory establishment with this attack on Boris Johnson's tube booze ban:

"(Boris) is now the most powerful Tory in the country and his policies are going to give some indication of what a Tory government might be like.

And Boris's very first act is to implement a policy that is more authoritarian than that of NuLabour's representative. It is a policy that involves more government interference in our daily lives (and if you think that this is the end of such policies then you are even more stupid than I thought)."

Because be in no doubt. A Cameron-led government will be as disappointing to many on the Right as the new Labour government was to those on the left. 

Some morsels on Europe and immigration will be tossed their way of course and a few will welcome the new regime as the glorious saviours they had hoped them to be. However, as time goes on the sheer drab monotony of a Tory government will reveal itself and like restless children, the braying masses of right-wing bloggers will look for a new toy to tinker with.

And with Prime Minister Cameron dangling on a string, there will be plenty of opportunities to play.

Boris Johnson in legal mess over new advisors

Boris Johnson's appointment of two of his advisors may not even be legal, City Hall admitted today.

Questions were raised after Sir Simon Milton and Kit Malthouse were both given jobs in the administration, despite already having jobs in restricted posts.

As reported here last week, Milton is currently the leader of Westminster City Council and Kit Malthouse is a member of the elected assembly. However, under current legislation and convention sitting councillors and members of the assembly are not permitted to be part of the twelve members of the Mayor's paid executive. 

And while Milton has said he will give up his position on Westminster City Council, Malthouse will continue to occupy a place on the elected assembly. This is a clear conflict of interest as Malthouse's role on the Assembly is to scrutinise the very Executive that he is himself a part. 

By appointing a member of the assembly into the Executive, Boris has therefore interfered with the separation of powers that enables the executive to be effectively held to account.

In an attempt to avert some of these problems, Milton has been appointed as a 'consultant'. However, City Hall admits that it is unclear whether there is a satisfactory legal position for such a role to be paid for by the taxpayer. Malthouse's position is equally unclear. A spokesperson for the Mayor said today:

"This is a grey area and we are trying to come up with new protocols. There are two categories where the law is unclear - one in the case of the consultant, that is Sir Simon, and the other in the case of Kit Malthouse, where he is an elected member and part of the executive at the same time. We are looking at how to make sure in these cases we institute stringent procedures of our own to make sure this is properly handled."

Transparency

The Mayor was elected in part on a promise to bring more transparency to the workings of City Hall. However, despite promises to publish expenses and salaries 'from day one,' the Mayor has failed to do so after almost two weeks in the job. 

A spokesperson for the Mayor said that these details would be published 'in the near future.' Hopefully by then they will have worked out exactly who is allowed to be in which job.

Boris Johnson: The new burgemeester van Londen

The view of our new Burgemeester Boris Johnson from our tulip-growing, reefer-smoking, clog-wearing friends across the sea (no stereotypes here then;)

London voters in Boris Johnson Spam attack

Unsuspecting voters found a nasty surprise in their inboxes this polling day, when they received a piece of Back Boris spam.

Londoners who had signed up to the MyOffers competitions site got a different prize to the ones they had hoped for, when their details were sold on to Lynton Crosby's team, for an undisclosed sum.

One irate voter called Ned contacted The Troll to complain: 

"On the day of the mayoral ballot I was contacted by the Conservative party by e-mail and encouraged to vote for Boris Johnson. This in itself I imagine is none too unusual but it is the method of communication which I question. Some time ago I subscribed to a ‘competition site’ called My Offers. The e-mail was sent to me by ‘my offers’ on behalf of the conservative party even though I had not signed up for political or any other type of communication except to receive offers of competitions."

Closer inspection of the terms and conditions at MyOffers reveals that the company can indeed do as they please with users data. However, although users sign up to their information being shared, there is no hint that the 'third parties' will include political parties.

So while there is no suggestion that either MyOffers or The Conservatives have broken any laws here, a question still remains around the ethics of using such aggressive marketing or political spamming as a way to win votes.

And although this deal seems to have worked out well for the Tories in the end, it has had a less beneficial effect on the relationship between Ned and MyOffers:

"I signed up to win an Audi A3 originally and to receive details of any other similar competitions. However, needless to say after receiving their offer to vote for Boris Johnson I decided to remove my subscription."

I'm afraid Londoners are going to have to put up with that particular booby prize for a few years yet.

Boris Johnson: Routemasters may never be built

In an extraordinary announcement, Boris Johnson's new transport advisor admitted that the new generation of Routemaster buses may never be built at all.

The Mayor's Director of Transport Policy Kulveer Ranger told the Evening Standard that:  

"The plan is to have them on the roads by the end of his first term but we're not doing this just for the hell of it. If we find there are initially no suitable bids we will review [the policy]."

Even if a new generation of buses are built, Ranger admitted that they would be unlikely to follow the Routemaster design. According to the Standard:

"The new design would not necessarily be "hopon, hop-off" with a conductor, as on the old Routemasters. (Ranger) said: "Whether or not we have a conductor depends on the design of the bus. We want people to be creative. Our brief is very flexible."

Now call me pedantic but I would have thought that the brief to 'build a new generation of Routemasters' was not a particularly flexible one and would at the very least involve building a bus with an open back.

Non-Starter

However, as reported here last month, Transport experts had already told Boris well before the election that his plans for a new routemaster were a 'non-starter' and that his estimates were wildly inaccurate.

A panel of experts told Transit magazine that the creation of a new type of bus for just one city and with an open back would almost certainly to be too expensive to build and potentially impossible to insure. 

That Boris should have been confronted with such clear evidence and yet still gone into an election with the new buses as a key pledge is frankly unbelelievable.

The Standard also reveal that the Mayor of New York advised Boris Johnson to scrap any unworkable policies as early as possible, presumably to avoid embarasment later on. 

But only one week into his tenure it is clear that Boris must have known full well that this pledge was as dodgy as its costings, well before the capital went to the polls.

Faced with this evidence I can only come to one conclusion:

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Londoners. You have been conned.

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Nick Griffin looks to crush leadership challenge

The BNP's national elections officer has condemned a challenge to Nick Griffin's leadership of the party as 'an abuse' of the BNP constitution and ordered members not to sign nominations.

The extraordinary email was sent by Eddy Butler after BNP councillor Colin Auty announced that he would stand for the leadership.

In the email obtained by the Lancaster Unite Against Fascism group, Butler acknowledges that members have a right to challenge the leadership, but then says:

"It is an important Right – it is a declaration of our Parties openness and commitment to democracy. However with Rights come responsibilities and duties. A Right without a duty is an abomination in any society. It is a recipe for chaos. Indeed in our modern society it is the incessant claiming of Rights by groups that shown no sense of duty or responsibility that is one of the key components of the undermining of the civic order of our country."

Zero Publicity

Just in case this had not crushed the candidate's chances enough, the BNP's national election officer then goes on to say that any resulting election "should be carried out in the most rapid manner possible with zero publicity allowed for the joke candidate."

Now a rapid campaign with zero publicity and orders that members should not sign nomination papers does not sound like the BNP are particularly keen on their member's democratic rights. Nor does it sound like their election officer can be particularly trusted to independently administer those elections.

Fractured

The challenge by Auty is thought to be related to a more serious challenge last year when some thought that the party may very well fracture into two competing entities. That risk was narrowly avoided after Griffins black ops department ordered expulsions, bugging operations and even the raiding of a members home.

It was hoped that the recent local elections would shore up Griffin's position. However, their gain of an assembly seat in London masked a relatively poor showing elsewhere. Party members had been expecting much bigger breakthroughs. 

It has also been suggested that the new high profile of BNP assembly member Richard Barnbrook has further diminished Griffin's status in the party and made way for this challenge to the leadership. 

However, given the words of Eddy Butler, it seems unlikely that Nick  Griffin will ever submit himself to a fair fight. No matter how much of a 'joke' he considers his opponents.

'The Londoner' is dead. Long live 'The Londoners'

As if a daily pat on the back from London's Quality Paper © was not enough, Boris Johnson has now secured a deal to write a weekly column in many of the capital's local rags.

Paul Waugh tells us that: "in another smart move, (Boris) will also write columns for local newspapers across the capital in an effort to get his message across."

It is not yet known whether our new Mayor will be reporting on the capital's tractor production quota or on the increased fortune's of London's pig-iron. However, it is fairly safe to assume that his columns will be not be overly critical of the regime. 

It is also not yet known which newspapers will be running Boris' column. However, it will almost certainly be hosted in the dozens of local London papers owned by the Daily Mail Group through their subsidiaries Northcliffe Media and Trinity Mirror. This is the same group of course that owns The Evening Standard, and two of London's freesheets, the London Lite and Metro.

Groundwork for this deal has been going on for some time. When Boris failed to turn up for the Time Out hustings he gave the excuse that he was meeting with London's local newspaper editors. Quite what he said over dinner isn't known, but whatever it was it seems to have done the trick.

So while it's easy to cheer the end of one propoganda sheet, let's not forget just what kind of media monopoly our new Mayor has built up for himself.

Boris Johnson to hand Crossrail to 'unfit' Norris

Boris Johnson is likely to hand control of the £16billion Crossrail project to a man called 'unfit' for office by families of those who died in the Potters Bar rail crash.

The Evening Standard are reporting that the ex-Jarvis chairman and Tory Mayoral candidate Steve Norris will be handed the crucial role, along with seats on both the London Development Agency and Transport for London. 

Norris is an extremely controversial choice to run the Crossrail project. During his campaign for Mayor he came under heavy fire after he refused to give up chairmanship of the company deemed responsible for the Potters Bar rail crash. 

Jarvis were in charge of maintaining the tracks at Potters Bar before the crash occured. Anger over his role at the firm was made worse when he claimed that there was evidence of sabotage to the railway tracks. The victim's families accused him of trying to absolve the company of their responsibilties and Norris was later forced to withdraw the claim.

Shareholders were also angered by his management of the company accusing him of 'presiding over a multifaceted disaster,' after shares collapsed. 

There was anger too at his defence of bonuses to the management team for their work during the year of the crash. The shareholders accused him of 'political arrogance' after he backed £1 million worth of pay-offs to directors who had left the firm.

His reappointment to TfL will also be seen by some as a settling of old scores after he was sacked by Ken Livingstone in 2001. Ken removed him from the board claiming that his directorship of Jarvis and his support of public-private partnerships made him unsuitable for the position. 

In fact Norris was a strong supporter of the failed Metronet private-public partnership for the London Underground and Jarvis themselves had originally bid for it. Ken Livingstone had opposed the deal from the start and the issue had been a source of tension between Norris and himself. The government backed Metronet contract finally collapsed last year and it is thought to have cost taxpayers in the range of £1.9 billion. 

However, if the £16 billion Crossrail project were to collapse, it would cost London much more. Let's just hope Norris and Boris are up to the job.

The 'so-called minor crimes' of Boris Johnson

"I think there is a vital necessity to drive out so-called minor crime and disorder as a way of driving out more serious crime." Boris Johnson 2008

The news that Boris Johnson was caught going through six red lights on his bike received little comment from here or elsewhere. The fact that he did so just days into his role as our representative to the world was also met with little surprise. The story received a collective 'meh' from Londoners. 'Hey what do you expect?' we seemed to be saying. 'The guys a clown. We knew that. We voted him in anyway.'

However, as Boris himself points out, we cannot afford to be complacent on these matters. We must drive the so-called minor crime out of town lest the major crime should think it's welcome too. Now the first step to expurgation is explication, so let us list the alleged so-called minor crimes of Boris Johnson:

1. Vandalism: While at Oxford University our Mayor was part of the notorious Bullingdon Club. The ritual activity of the club was to smash up peoples restaurants and then sling cash through the swinging door.
   
2. Theft: On a visit to Baghdad, our Mayor stole an item from the home of Tariq Aziz. He branded the investigation of this minor crime a "monumental waste of taxpayer's money." Oh come on Boris, that's not the attitude.
3. Failure to declare donations: Our Mayor failed to declare £250,000 worth of campaign donations from business interests. "An oversight" apparently.
4. Conspiracy to commit GBH: In a phone call to his friend and best man the convicted fraudster Darius Guppy, Boris Johnson agreed to find the address of a journalist so that he could be beaten up by Guppy. "I'm not ashamed of it" said Boris.
5. Wreckless Driving: Our Mayor was caught going through six red lights and endangering the lives of other road users and pedestrians. Caught by a journalist from the Mirror, the Mayor said: "I will be more careful in the future". Now that's more like it Boris ;)

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As Londoners we must unite and stay vigilant against the scourge of so-called minor crime. So have you seen any more of Boris' minor crimes. If so, contact my Minor-Crime hotline. Together we can stamp it out.

Boris Johnson and the dead parrot bounce

In yet another puff piece for the Conservative party, Tory 'insider' and champion of freedom Iain Dale told the nation that Boris' ban on booze: "shows he has hit the ground running and intends to implement his manifesto to the letter."

Yet since Boris' came to power there have been at least three policies that have hit the ground dead, and so far they're not running anywhere.

First up we have Boris pledge to scrap Ken Livingstone's business embassies. Like his pledge to scrap bendy buses, this was for many months one of the only policies that Boris would admit to. As recently as the Conservative spring conference he was deriding them as 'vainglorious' adventures that would be culled as soon as he got in.

So what's he going to do now he's actually in power? That's right, he's keeping them.

Next up we have Boris' pledge to award an amnesty to illegal immigrants that have worked here for a long time. This surprise announcement came just days before Boris had to face an extremely hostile audience at London Citizens, and caused Bob Piper to accuse Boris of 'having his cake and eating it.' Well guess what London Citizens? Boris doesn't need your vote anymore so you can say tada to that one.

Thirdly we have the pledge to arrange local referendums on the smoking ban. To be fair, that pledge didn't last longer than an afternoon, in which short time he realised that neither the government nor his boss Dave would let him do it. Still it didn't stop Boris "I believe in liberty" Johnson from going to the other end of the spectrum by banning drinking on trains.

Lastly and most disappointingly we have Johnson's pledge to put all expenses (like salaries) up on the Mayor's website 'from day one'. Now I know we are in early days here, but eight days on from 'day one' and there is still no sign of the salaries, registered interests or even detailed job descriptions of any of Boris Johnson's new appointments on his website. 

On this last one there is still hope that the dead parrot will bounce up and fly away, but so far signs of life don't look good. So come on Boris, Polly wants a cracker and Polly's getting hungry. Where are those bloody expenses?

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Do you know of any more upcoming Boris Johnson dead parrot bounces? Do you know of any other birds that aren't going to fly? If so, then please send them to the usual address ;)

Boris Johnson puts traffic flow ahead of leaks

Boris Johnson today signalled that traffic flow would take priority over the repairs to London's waterworks and that a new desalination plant would now go ahead despite a previous legal challenge.

A spokesperson for Boris said earlier today that: 

"Thames Water has committed to work with the Mayor to reduce the impact of their roadworks on traffic in London.

"This includes setting up pilot projects across the capital to look at different ways of working in the city's streets, particularly relating to the company's extensive programme of Victorian mains replacement. This should allow London's traffic to move more freely and reduce congestion across the capital."

However, despite claims of a new transparency, there is no detail yet available as to what these 'different ways of working' will actually involve, apart from the statement that 'roads must not be cordoned off when no one is working there.' There is also no available information on the extent to which this will delay the rate of repair to London's mains. 

However, I think it is safe to assume that any project that will reduce the extent of Thames Water's roadworks in the capital will inevitably increase the time needed to complete them. The announcement that the proposed desalination plant at Beckton will now go ahead would also suggest that Boris is expecting his traffic policy to reduce current projections for water capacity.

In fact, when Ken Livingstone appealed against the construction of the plant in 2006, he cited the evidence that prioritising repairs to London's Victorian waterworks would save seven times the amount of drinking water produced by a desalination plant over that same period. 

In his appeal published in full on the Mayor's website, he said that for Thames Water to spend £200 million on a desalination plant when nine million litres of water were being lost through leaks every single day was 'akin to pouring water into a sieve.' 

Part of Ken Livingstone's objection to the plant was that it would unnecessarily add to the capital's carbon emissions. Aware of this criticism, Boris today announced a deal with Thames Water that the plant would be powered entirely by 'renewable fuel.' 

However it is not clear whether this means renewable in the sense that a plank of burning wood is renewable, or renewable in the sense that wind energy is renewable. A plant powered by biofuel can be 'renewable' while still adding to carbon emissions. The use of the term 'renewable fuel' rather than 'renewable energy' could suggest that this is the case.

Whether or not the plant will be run on truly renewable energy, the fact still remains that desalination plants are notoriously inefficient at creating fresh water. Even if the plant is run entirely on wind power which seems highly unlikely, that plant would still be a huge drain on our energy resources and will divert Thames Water's resources away from the biggest cause of water shortages in the capital. 

The huge investment required to construct and run this plant will also presumably do little for Londoners' water bills.

However, as with Boris' decision to reverse Ken's rephasing of traffic lights, despite evidence showing that it has saved hundreds of lives, today's decision is a further sign that the needs of the motorist will now come above all others in Boris' London.

Nick Griffin: Baby Jesus and the Evil Jew King

Nick Griffin's Xmas story. Santa Claus he aint.

Mayor Bloomberg on Boris Johnson and cowardice

Michael Bloomberg with a gift from Boris: "Ken was maybe a bit more serious."

The Mayor of New York has urged Boris Johnson to have the 'courage' not to wind back progress on climate change and pollution.

Asked about Boris' plans to reduce the size of the congestion charge zone, Michael Bloomberg told the BBC:

"I don't know the details, but what you need to do is to dissuade people from using gasoline and from choking our roads.

Speaking after the New York assembly rejected his plans for a similar charge, Bloomberg said: 

"I shouldn't be disappointed it's the public that should be disappointed it's our kids that should be disappointed. Our kids will look back at us and say we didn't have the courage to do what was right. We are damaging the environment, we are polluting the air we breathe, we are strangling our economy."

Boris and Crime

During his election campaign, Boris Johnson also made much of the comparison between crime levels in London and crime in New York. One of his much repeated lines was that Ken Livingstone should have taken more control over an area 'for which he is directly responsible.' 

However, Micheal Bloomberg reminded the BBC that the Mayor of London does not have those kinds of powers:

"Boris Johnson doesn't have control over the police department here the way I have control... He doesn't have that luxury." 

However, he said that one thing Boris could and should do is to reduce Londoners' fears about public spaces:

"Boris has got to be seen out there with the average person. Be in the parks that some people think are dangerous so he can show that they are not... if you can get more people in the parks you will have less crime. Crime goes to places where there aren't people."

This is sensible advice. The more safe people feel about a space (say the back of a bus) then the more they are likely to use it and the more safe it becomes. Similarly the more unsafe people feel about an area, then the less likely they will be to use it and the more dangerous it will then become.

It's just a shame that Boris didn't hear this advice before handing out leaflets like these ones.

What the BNP really think of London

What they say:

• “The people who have the brains and ability got out (of London) years ago, one way or another. The people who are left are either the 15 per cent of the population who are happy to put up with it, they’re so decadent they actually like it, or they are too stupid to do anything about it. They will vote BNP, but you can’t build a movement on those people.” - Nick Griffin 1997

• "London is a violent crime ridden cesspit" - BNP member
  

What they do:

As leader of the BNP in Barking and Dagenham, Richard Barnbrook proposed:

• £2 million worth of cuts to services for the elderly
• 10% cut in funding for learning and disabilities 
  
• Cuts to refuse collections
• Cuts to police numbers

So the next time you hear Richard Barnbrook talk about championing 'this great city' just remember: there is nothing patriotic about the British National Party. They hate it here.

(Figures from Hope not Hate)

Boris Johnson: Goodbye Cronyism, Hello Nepotism

Faced with the task of actually having a strategy for running London, Boris Johnson has turned to the best possible man for the job: his brother.

The Independent today reports that Boris is considering handing his brother Jo the role of Director of Strategy. Quite how he came to this view is not yet clear, but presumably it came after tendering the role out to the family dinner table.

Also in for a job is Boris' father Stanley (above) who is the favourite to replace his son after he gives up his Henley seat. To be fair to his father, Stanley at least has some political experience having served as an MEP. Boris' brother Jo on the other hand has all the thorough strategic experience of putting together a column for the Financial Times.

Not wanting to miss her lick of the dish, Boris' sister Rachel has also been doing the rounds as her brother's unofficial spokesperson. 

On election night, the BBC cut away from Sian Berry's speech to bring us a mobile phone conversation with Rachel as she staggered around looking for George Osborne. The fact that she failed to find him however, detracted little from her live review of the party HQ's fine champagne and oysters.

Obviously warming to her new role, she then took a seat on the panel of BBC's Question Time. Once seated she helpfully proclaimed herself: 'physically (un)able to answer a question that's not about my brother,' which to be fair to her she went on to prove.

The news that Boris' brother may now soon enter City Hall comes after a week when it was revealed that roles had been given to Boris and Cameron's old pal from the Sunday Telegraph and an old fraudster from Eton.

So as Boris Johnson pads out his administration with uni mates, journo mates and now former playmates, you do have to wonder just what kind of new slate has been wiped clean at City Hall, and just what hopes are left for meritocracy with the Tories.

Boris Johnson and the 'Lynch Mob' service cuts

A councillor renowned for cutting services and a journalist renowned for cutting criticism of David Cameron: just two of the panel charged with investigating and reducing waste at City Hall.

When Boris Johnson announced an investigation into spending at the LDA and GLA, it was broadly welcomed. The Evening Standard had revealed a number of cases where money had been misspent or funds had been stolen by outside organisations. Any investigation that would help tighten up procedures would therefore clearly be a good thing.

But as details of Boris' 'forensic audit panel' came out it soon became clear that the panel have been hired for political rather than just administrative ends.

Of the panel of five, two are Conservative councillors and one is the ex-editor of The Sunday Telegraph. Of the five, four are known to be heavily involved in Conservative politics and only one has any expertise in forensic auditing. And as far as we know, his role in the group is only thought to be an advisory one. 

One of the two councillors is Stephen Greenhalgh. Greenhalgh is well known in his borough for sneaking through cuts to voluntary organisations. While at Hammersmith and Fulham Council he made the following cuts to services that he believed were 'not a political priority':

  

While stringent about these cuts in spending, he was much less stringent about those to his own income. At the same time that caretakers in his borough were being asked to accept a cut of 50% to their pensionable income, Greenhalgh agreed a 14% increase in his own allowances on top of an 18% increase to his salary.

Greenhalgh's new colleague Patience Wheatcroft is also no stranger to cuts. While editor of The Sunday Telegraph, she heavily censored a column by Christopher Booker that was critical of David Cameron. Booker said that it was the first time it had happened to him in the sixteen years he had written for the paper. 

Why she felt the need to so rigorously defend the Conservative leader is not known. But it certainly does not bode well for her role in the 'independent' review that Boris promised to establish.

It is also still not known just how much this investigation will cost, or how much it will duplicate a similar investigation already being carried out. 

What is known however, is that the group will report back within just a month and conclude within just two. And given the partisan makeup of its panel, we may well need another group to independently investigate whatever findings it presents.

Boris Johnson: Not in their name.

A group of Boris Stoppers will be gathering outside City Hall tomorrow afternoon to commiserate the election of our lord and master, Boris Johnson.

The Tory Troll won't be able to make it this time, but if you fancy joining them for a picnic and a drink then you can meet them on the grassy knoll by City Hall from Midday.

You are advised to bring some drinks along with you, and if you plan on travelling on the underground, please don't forget to crack one open while you still can ;)

Richard Barnbrook shunned at first GLA meeting

Two BNP supporters look on as their man finds his seat.

I step out of the City Hall lift and into the centre of a blazing row. Outside the glass doors of the chamber, two BNP supporters are shouting at a man, as he tells them that Nazis aren't welcome in London. 

One of the two is a red-headed woman who I think I recognise from BNP videos and the other is a short balding man who is becoming increasingly angry. He turns to the other man and says:

"Look you. London is a violent crime ridden cesspit and Richard Barnbook will be a breath of fresh air."

Inside the chamber and there is more than a breath of fresh air between Barnbrook's seat and the rest of the assembly. The seating is arranged in a horseshoe shape and whoever was in charge has put Barnbrook right at one end, with a one-seat gap between him and the other members. If it was meant to alienate him then it has worked, and from what I saw today it will be a position he will have to get used to.

I sit myself behind the BNP supporters as we wait for the other assembly members to arrive. They are now joined by a man with an Italian accent named Guiseppe. After the meeting Barnbrook welcomes him by his first name so I assume that this must be Giuseppe De Santis. 

De Santis was part of the BNPs unsuccessful attempts to create a Europe-wide alliance of far-right groups. He was also as it happens, a member of the 'better off out' campaign to leave the EU run by the Freedom Association. They too it seems have few qualms about who helps their cause.

The first piece of business is the election of the Chair and deputy chair. The 'rainbow' coalition of Labour Lib Dems and Greens all unite to elect Jeanette Arnold to the position of Chair. Jeanette is a black Labour member representing Hackney and from the look of it Barnbrook isn't pleased. His supporters give each other a knowing look.

But when the position of Deputy Chair is put to the vote I am momentarily surprised by Barnbrook's choice. Throughout the session Barnbrook either votes with the Tories or abstains. But when the Assembly are asked to choose between Tony Arbour of the Tories or Darren Johnson of the Greens, Barnbrook gives his vote to the latter.

I am left puzzled for a second, wondering why Barnbrook voted with the left coalition against a Tory candidate and then suddenly it strikes me: Tony Arbour isn't white.

Because for all their ideological mumbo jumbo, the default position of the BNP is White Power. And while they may hate the environmentalist or the communist, there is no hatred that will overcome their race hatred. And as their friendship with De Santis shows, despite all of their spiel about unsustainable immigration, there is clearly no limit to the number of foreign white Nazis that they will welcome to these shores.

As the meeting continues Barnbrook seems completely out of his depth. At several points he tries to hijack proceedings with a rambling speech about his complaint to the Standards Boards for England (or 'standing board' as he calls it) but he is twice silenced by the word of the chair (or mayor as he calls her.) And as the meeting draws to a close I wonder just what he expects to get out of this assembly. 

From what I saw today it's clear that Barnbrook's real interest is not in being part of the assembly as he claims, but in manufacturing conflicts and gaining publicity for his party. 

However, with Labour and Tory threats of non-cooperation, and with the seating arrangement in the assembly, the other parties are at risk of playing directly into his hands. Because by trying to extend the 'no-platform' approach into an elected assembly, they are only dressing him in the martyrs clothes that he seeks.

So for my money the best way to deal with Barnbrook would be to call his bluff and to give him exactly what he asks for. Involve him in the driest of committees and give him the most tedious of the assembly's tasks. Because by denying him cooperation, the assembly are only allowing him to pose as the champion of democracy that he most definitely isn't. 

So give him what he asks for and test his clearly limited abilities. Because it is only then that Londoners will see just what little commitment the BNP really have to this city.

The Tory Troll and Richard Barnbrook in City Hall

The Tory Troll will be at City Hall tomorrow morning for the inaugural meeting of our Tory and Nazi dominated London Assembly.

Ordinarily I wouldn't be expecting too much excitement. Just a bit of bottom shuffling as London's top Tories vie for the positions of chair and deputy chair. 

But on this occasion we get our first real chance to see the Great White Dope Richard Barnbrook in action. So do come along if you fancy a good laugh.

So far every time the BNP's Dick Barnbrook has been at City Hall he's been met with protests and walkouts, and some of the City Hall staff have even said they will refuse to work with him.

For his own part Dick has called for a ban on burkas and reported two of his fellow assembly members to the Standards Board for England. 

So all in all it should be a friendly affair...

Michael Portillo on Tory fears of Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson to be advised by convicted fraudster

Boris Johnson has had meetings with a convicted fraudster and fellow old Etonian about his plans for London's transport system.

The Telegraph are reporting that Boris met Lord Brocket for dinner last month and that the he will address a presentation to Team Boris in the coming weeks.

Brocket hit the healdlines when he was convicted for conspiracy to defraud an insurance company of £54,500,000 in 1996. The scam only came to light after Brocket's wife was arrested for forging drug prescriptions and then confessed all to the police.

Brocket's attempted fraud involved dismantling and hiding four Ferraris and then reporting them as stolen to the police. Brocket served two and a half years in prison and now works as a motivational speaker.

Of course Boris Johnson is no stranger to convicted fraudsters. His much reported relationships with Darius Guppy, and Conrad Black have caused him many problems over the years. 

However, I didn't expect that Boris would be seeking their advice once he became the Mayor of London. Nor did I think that it would come to light on the very day that he has announced a panel charged with 'cleaning out City Hall.'

So a word of advice Boris. If you're looking to mop up alleged waste and corruption from City Hall, then maybe you should start by not letting any more through the front door.

Boris Johnson advisor part of 'Shirley Porter gang'

Boris Johnson's new planning advisor was a Westminster councillor during the notorious 'Homes for Votes' scandal of the 1980s. 

Sir Simon Milton was a member of the Tory group led by Dame Shirley Porter, who sold off council housing to Tory voters in a successful attempt to retain control of the borough. 

Milton's Labour opponent Cllr Paul Dimoldenberg said of him yesterday:

"Is Simon Milton really the best qualified person that Boris Johnson can find to advise him on planning and how to build more affordable homes in London?

"Simon Milton learned everything he knows about flogging off council housing when he was one of the Shirley Porter gang involved in the 'Homes for Votes' scandal, including housing the homeless in asbestos ridden flats," added Cllr Dimoldenberg."

The property scam cost the borough many millions of pounds and Shirley Porter and her deputy were ordered to pay £27,000,000 by the High Court. Porter subsequently appealed and in 2004 the then Tory leader of the council and now senior advisor to Boris Johnson, signed an agreement with the Audit Commision that only £12.3 million should be paid back. Cllr Dimoldenberg said of the agreement:

"Westminster residents are still £30 million out of pocket thanks to Milton agreeing to accept only a quarter of the £42 million surcharge owed by Porter."

In the intervening period Milton has sought to distance himself from the scandal, and no charges have ever been levelled against him personally. Yesterday, he welcomed his appointment by Boris Johnson and said that he would transfer what he has learnt from leading Westminster Council. He told the Paddington and Westminster Times:* 

"Westminster Council is without doubt the best council in the country and I am proud of the contribution I have made in achieving that reputation. I hope that I can bring some of the Westminster standard of efficiency, effectiveness and innovation to the government of London."

Quite what this will entail is not yet clear. During his election campaign, Boris Johnson told the audience of the ITV London debate that he would consider selling off some council housing in order to pay for the refurbishment of the remaining council housing.

The Tory Troll hopes that this isn't the kind of innovative efficiency that Boris' new planning advisor has in mind.

*Thanks to Dave Hill for the link.

Boris Johnson Donor says Boris is good for business

A property developer who funded Boris Johnson's election campaign has said that Boris will be good for his business. Micheal Slade, who donated £20,000 to the Mayor, said he welcomed the election result because Boris would be less 'rigid' in regulating the provision of affordable housing, than his predecessor.

The Chief Executive of property development and investment company Helical Bar told Property Week that: 

‘For me personally, and for Helical Bar, we would all prefer a Conservative administration in the Greater London Authority and we would hope that a new administration would free up London.'

Helical Bar's website states that their mission is to: 'create shareholder value through a wide variety of high margin activities with property investment at our core.'

For many developers, Ken's requirement that half of all new housing should be affordable, was seriously eating into that margin. So when Boris Johnson pledged to scrap that target, he received a resounding endorsement from many in the business. 

At Helical Bar, Michael Slade and his colleague at Nigel McNair Scott donated a total of £30,000 between them to the Back Boris campaign. Questioned about the motivation behind the donations, Slade admitted that it would be seen as an attempt to sway planning policy. He told the Financial Times:

“You do run the thin line of someone saying: I’m only doing this to have access and influence, but that was what politics was always about. It is a little unfair but there must be 20 per cent truth in it.”

So while Slade is surprisingly honest about his intentions, we still do not know if Boris is sincere about providing more affordable housing. During the campaign, Boris suggested that he would be able to provide more affordable housing because the 50% target was deterring developers. But as Slade's comments show, the real beneficiaries of scrapping the target, will be the property developers themselves. 

During the election campaign I became increasingly frustrated at how the issue of housing was skirted over in the debates. At hustings after hustings, we heard about Ken and al-Quaradawi and Boris and the BNP. But when it came to what is for many Londoners, the key issue in their lives, the debate was always quickly moved on. 

But what is now becoming clear though is that removing Ken's target will only serve to further drive up the cost of housing and to further drive out low earners from London. And as Boris does his favourite 'man of the people' act this week, we should all do well to remember that.

Evening Standard on Boris Johnson Advisor Secrecy

The Evening Standard are finding out that surprise surprise, the new Boris Johnson administration is not the new transparent utopia they had made it out to be.

Writing on the paper's online only section (where else), Paul Waugh says of yesterday's deputy muddle:

"Given Boris's campaign pledge to end the "cronyism" and "secrecy" at City Hall, and publish on the internet as much information "from Day One" of his mayoralty, it was disappointing to find today that no one seemed to know what salaries the new deputies are on. It is, as Boris, would say, OUR money."

Also as yet unpublished are the actual roles of these gaggle of deputies and advisors. A small point that even the Evening Standard haven't been able to get out of them.

So let me ask you directly Boris: Why is it that Sir Simon Milton has been appointed as your 'senior adviser on planning', while your other four appointees have been given the title of 'deputy mayors?' Is it, as a commenter pointed out yesterday, because Milton is still retaining his job as chairman of the Local Government Association?

And if so, is there not a conflict of interest in your senior planning advisor, also chairing the Local Government Association, a group which lobbies on behalf of local councils? 

Perhaps this is what Boris meant when he said that he would 'work with the boroughs' to get more affordable housing. I knew it would probably mean less of that housing and more powerful councils, but I didn't know it would actually involve Boris paying their chief lobbyist.

Of course we don't yet know if Boris actually is paying Sir Simon Milton, because he hasn't deigned to tell us. It is possible that Milton has taken an unpaid post, which would explain him having a different title to the deputies. But if so, why won't the new team tell us? 

So it's time to open up now Team Boris. You told us Boris would 'Make London More Accountable,' so let's see some of that transparency we heard so much about.

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Do you work at City Hall? Are you one of Boris' "dogs in the manger"? Are you waiting to be "euthanised"? If so, then The Tory Troll would really like to hear from you ;)

Boris Johnson collects three more 'Deputy Mayors'

Boris Johnson continued yesterday's confusion by appointing another three 'Deputy Mayors' to his administration. This brings the running total up to four, and will further muddle an already complex system.

As reported yesterday, the GLA Act currently only allows for one Deputy Mayor and this deputy must be appointed from the elected assembly alone. Boris' appointment of four deputies, two of whom are not assembly members, is confusing at best and a breach of the act at worst.

Of these four deputies, only Richard Barnes has been appointed as the 'statutory' Deputy Mayor. However, this suggests that the other deputies are 'non-statutory' and so therefore merely unaccountable advisers. 

So why has Boris given them the established title of Deputy Mayor, but then given another equally important appointee the title of 'Senior Adviser'? 

Whatever, the reason it does not bode well for the beginning of a new transparent administration, as Martin from MayorWatch points out:

"People hardly understand how the GLA works as it is without confusing things by handing out vanity titles to advisers. Can you imagine the reaction had Ken called Jasper 'Deputy Mayor' ?"

After the last six months of coverage at the Evening Standard, I can imagine it only too well. 

Richard Barnbrook: Making Fascism Funny

"April 23rd, a day which used to pass unnoticed..." 

(Until Londoners saw Richard Barnbrook making a tit of himself)

Read more on the Great White Dope here.

Whale Harpooned after Backing Boris Johnson

Right-wing shock-jock James Whale has been sacked from Talksport after endorsing Boris Johnson.

Over the years Whale has campaigned for an end to recycling and banned all Scottish nationals from calling his radio show. But it was his backing of Boris Johnson for Mayor that finally caused him to lose his job.

Under Ofcom guidance, broadcasters must refrain from endorsing or pushing a particular candidate in the run-up to an election. When Whale did just that for Boris on March 20th, the station and Ofcom received  a high number of complaints. 

An investigation began, but Talksport decided to pre-empt it by announcing that Whale would be sacked. 

The sacking followed a previous complaint upheld by Ofcom last month. Ofcom then ruled that it was unacceptable for Whale to have read out the email address of an angry listener and then encourage other listeners to misuse it. 

However, although Talksport continued to employ Whale after this incident, the endorsement for Boris Johnson was seen as a step too far. A spokesman for Talksport said James Whale's backing of Boris was: 

"A serious error of judgment which we found totally unacceptable."

The Tory Troll couldn't agree more ;)

The Tory Troll on Liberal Conspiracy

You can read another of my articles over at the ever-ready Liberal Conspiracy website. Head over there to continue the debate on Richard Barnbrook and the BNP. 

Other highlights include Sunny Hundal on Boris the Libertarian Authoritarian and Steve Platt on A Farewell to Ken. After you've done with all that, you can head back over here for the latest...

Boris Johnson Breaks Assembly Act on First Day

Boris Johnson today announced that Ray Lewis would serve as his 'Deputy Mayor for Young People,' despite never having been elected to the post. 

Yet as the excellent MayorWatch points out, the Greater London Authority Act 1999 only allows deputy mayors to be appointed from the assembly.

The appointment of the ex-prison governor as a deputy mayor is therefore arguably in violation of the founding constitution.

The Evening Standard were reporting as early as last September that Boris would appoint a series of Deputy Mayors, in following with the American system under Michael Bloomberg.

Yet under the London system there can only be one deputy, who must be an elected assembly member. The appointment of Lewis, before the official Deputy Mayor has even been decided, is therefore a further sign of Boris' complete inexperience with the workings of local government.

And only one day into his mayoralty, it is not yet clear quite how many more unelected deputies will be needed before Boris can start to run London.

Richard Barnbrook: The Great White Dope

When Richard Barnbrook stooped forward to give his victory speech this weekend, both the main candidates and the news channels left the stage. Which was a shame. Because a better demonstration of the real man's character and party could not have been found.

Now I have always thought that the 'no-platform' approach is wrong. To deny the far-right a voice is to give them a status that they do not deserve. 

But as it is, the vast majority of the almost 200,000 people that gave Barnbrook a first or second preference vote, have never seen him speak in public. For these voters, the fact that their man has seemingly been hidden by the media, will only have hardened his appeal.

Now if over the past few months Barnbrook had instead occupied the seat of Lindsey German at the various hustings and TV appearances, then his appeal could have been dramatically reduced. Rather than being seen as the maverick outsider speaking for the 'silent majority,' Barnbrook would have been exposed as the racist loudmouth that he is.

Unfortunately, the media enabled Barnbrook and the BNP to pose as victims of a vast conspiracy intent on hiding and destroying them. And the more they were kept out of the public eye, then the more they could then dismiss any revelations brought against them.

Because during the course of the campaign there were two major revelations about Barnbrook and his party. The first was that BNP candidate Nick Eriksen had written condoning rape and the assault of women and the second was that Barnbrook had been having an affair with an immigrant.

Now quite what effect these revelations had is far from clear, (although there had been predictions that the BNP would return three assembly seats). However, what is clear is that when Barnbrook stepped forward for his victory speech, he was easily able to dismiss those allegations as part of a left-wing conspiracy. 

The fact that these revelations came from the Daily Mail and the News of the World was conveniently ignored. For his army of supporters, he could pose as Richard the Lionheart battling against an army of media Saladins, and as the great white martyr fighting the dark dark arts of the press.

Now if instead of being hidden from us throughout the campaign, Barnbrook had been given his fair share of media scrutiny, then he would never have been able to adopt these martyr poses. Stripped of his lion suit, London would have seen the dark heart that lurked within. And forced into the heat of the spotlight, we could have seen the sweaty berk that he is.

So as Richard Barnbrook takes his seat on the London Assembly this Friday, the British press must take their responsibilties much more seriously. The complacent 'no platform' approach has delivered the BNP their biggest victory yet. It is now time that Richard Barnbrook and the BNP get the media attention that they really deserve.

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This post now also appears over at the excellent Liberal Conspiracy website. 

Boris Johnson: Man of the People

Champagne, caviar and oysters as Tories put new Boris Johnson on ice.

Boris Johnson vs Cameron: Triumph of The Mail?

Boris Johnson's pals are already backing him for Prime Minister, and pitching him against David Cameron, as he becomes the most powerful Tory politician in Britain.

Boris' old boss at The Telegraph Charles Moore told the Mail on Sunday: 

"He could end up being Prime Minister. I think that is what he most of all wants. Boris has a will. He is a very, very ambitious person and I am sure that what he wants to do is to prove that you can be this extraordinary person and you can be this sort of pretend-fool. I think he is always trying to prove something. He has the most driving egotism and ambition." 

Boris' biographer Andrew Gimson also confirmed that the Mayor had 'set his sights' on the premiership from an early age and that the Mayoralty would be used as a 'springboard' for a challenge on the Tory leadership. 

He told The Mail that there was already an: "Implicit rivalry between Boris and Cameron", and warned that Mr Cameron would be "wary" in the future of the threat."

The Daily Mail have always had an uneasy relationship with David Cameron at the best of times. His closeness in style to the hated Tony Blair, and his loosely liberal politics have denied him the support that any other Tory leader would expect.

The emergence of a new Tory leader with more traditional Conservative principles, is therefore an opportunity for the paper to push their own agenda, while still having the occasional swipe at Cameron.

Boris of course owes much to the newspaper group, and he will be encouraged to return their favours in more ways than one. 

In the meantime though, this new narrative of a rivalry between Cameron and Boris will be used to force Cameron further to the right. Whether or not Boris would ever be a real threat to Cameron is not yet clear. But after seeing Boris propelled to power on an anti-gang, pro-motorist agenda, the group will be trying to make Cameron follow suit, at least. 

And as the likelihood of a Tory government increases, will David Cameron use the luxury of indulging them?

Workers barred from Boris Johnson's party

Far be it for me to piss on Boris Johnson's cheerios this morning, but the news that his party workers were barred from his victory ball has left a bad taste in the mouth.

In fact it was the very "knocker-uppers" that Boris heaped so much praise on in his speech last night, that were kept from joining the celebrations at the headquarters in Millbank. The Times reports:

"Only MPs, donors and a tiny number of political strategists were said to have been allowed to attend. One source said: “It is a kick in the teeth for all the workers. The party chiefs deserve a good hiding for it."

It was undoubtedly the hard work of these "knocker-uppers" that delivered the high turnout that clinched victory for Johnson. These workers have laboured the streets in their ridiculous T-shirts for many months now. To have gone through all that and to then be stranded at the gates must be a huge blow. 

Of course the story should come as little surprise to seasoned Cameroon followers. Two ambulance drivers who had worked with David Cameron and his son Ivan over many months, came out to complain last year that they had been invited to Dave's house, only to be "shovelled out" when the champagne and dinner was dished up to their Notting Hill friends. 

At the time Cameron had told waiting journalists that Jack and Doreen Ingram were 'carers, helpers and friends,' but once the media had departed, the couple felt looked-down upon, washed-out and used.

And as the Cameroons swanned into Millbank last night, there will have been many Tory party workers feeling the same.

Why people voted for Boris Johnson

BBC in Boris Johnson Gaffe Appeal

A nice woman from Radio 4 has been in contact with Stop Boris. Apparently the BBC been trying to put together a compilation of Boris Johnson's gaffes for The World Tonight, but they have failed to find enough of them on tape.

Now leaving aside the fact that an organisation the size of the BBC, with a huge set of news archives needs help from a couple of bloggers with nothing but a website to their name, this does seem to be an extraordinary move for them to take. 

Because even though I have done everything I can to keep Boris out of City Hall, it still seems ungracious to compile and broadcast a piece like this on a day when all indications show the man will be elected London Mayor.

And although I have no doubts that he will make a complete hash of being Mayor, I still think that he should be allowed the chance to make that hash. Because today is his day to be Mr Smug, and we shouldn't make his smugness any worse by being sore losers about it.

And if Boris Johnson does become Mayor this evening, then he will be in power and at City Hall for four long messy years to come. And if the BBC still need help in putting together a compilation after all of that time, then it will not just be Boris Johnson's competence that will come under question.

Boris Johnson to stay on in Henley

Boris Johnson will stay on as a Henley MP even if he becomes London Mayor, The Times revealed today. The announcement will raise further questions about Boris' commitment to London, and his ability to run the capital. 

The Evening Standard have already questioned whether Boris' decision to chair the Metropolitan Police Authority as well as the mayoralty would be an overstretch.  This new announcement that he would effectively have three jobs is therefore extremely worrying. 

And if that were not enough, Boris has also not ruled out returning to the Telegraph.

Of course Boris has notoriously found it difficult to hold down the jobs that he has had and his managerial style is said to be laissez-faire at best and non-existent at worst. Quite how he will manage to successfully hold down three full-time and highly demanding jobs, two of which he has no experience in, is not clear. 

But if not enough people turn out to vote today, then we will soon find out.

To Paddick or not to Paddick?

I'm sitting at my desk desperately trying to decide where my second preference vote should go. The easy choice would be to give it to Brian Paddick who is the only other candidate with even a slim chance of beating Boris Johnson. But somehow I'm not convinced.

I have watched Paddick at quite a few of the hustings in this election and he has only managed to put me off. I have voted Lib Dem in the past so Paddick should be a no-brainer for me, but there is something about him that doesn't appeal.

The only other candidates I have seen in action are Lindsey German and Sian Berry who have both impressed me at different times. I feel like I should give my second prefe