Boris on the Diamond Jubilee river pageant:
“A kind of Dunkirk except more successful.”
We didn’t realise Aidan Burley would be participating.
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Boris: Jubilee river pageant will be ‘like Dunkirk but more successful’
Boris met with Sun editors – the day after Rebekah Brooks was arrested
Boris Johnson met with senior editors from The Sun in March — just one day after Rebekah Brooks was arrested in a dawn raid, Political Scrapbook can reveal. The news comes after sustained criticism of his closeness to NewsCorp while his police force were investigating hacking and his outgoing PR chief being courted for a senior role with Rupert Murdoch.
Perhaps the meeting with editor Dominic Mohan and political editor Tom Newton Dunn goes some way to explaining his botched cover-up when asked about planned News International sponsorship — ranting to a TV camera that questions on the issue were “fucking bollocks”.
Doubtless there is relief in some quarters that this didn’t leak during the election.
New Boris deputy quits as councillor after appointment cock-up
In the first cock-up of Boris’ new term, leading Tory Stephen Greenhalgh has been forced to quit as a councillor in west London to to become deputy mayor for policing – despite claims from council authorities and the Evening Standard that he could continue in both roles.
Stephen Greenhalgh leaving as a H&F councillor so he can be Boris’ deputy mayor for policing.”Too good an opportunity” said sources.
— Peter Dominiczak (@peterdominiczak) May 10, 2012
As highlighted by Scrapbook on Tuesday, City Hall rules ban advisers to the mayor from being “politically active” unless they are members of the London Assembly.
You read it here first.
Boris rule breach on deputy mayor branded “complete shambles”
Boris Johnson’s mayoral appointments have hit a road block – after a rule breach over political appointments was highlighted by Scrapbook yesterday. Stephen Greenhalgh will now be forced to quit as a councillor in Hammersmith and Fulham if he is to accept a role as Boris’ deputy mayor for policing.
Despite briefing to the Evening Standard on Greenhalgh’s appointment yesterday, the official announcement was delayed for hours after awkward questions prompted an examination of whether the role was “politically restricted” – meaning it cannot be performed by a sitting councillor.
But a spokesperson for the London Assembly has now said:
“If you are not a member of the Assembly then the position [of deputy mayor for policing] makes you a member of staff of the Mayor’s office for policing and crime and, therefore, under the rules they cannot be a councillor at the same time. He cannot hold both posts at the same time.”
While some hacks claimed that reforms in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act would prevent a similar cockup to that surrounding the appointment of Boris’ planning advisor in 2008, it seems that the legislation still applies rules on political restrictions as follows:
“In this section a reference to a person holding a politically restricted post under a local authority includes a reference to every member of the staff of an elected local policing body, except for a deputy police and crime commissioner.”
The rules will prevent Greenhalgh from cashing in twice — topping up his full-time deputy mayor salary with councillor allowances.
Has Boris Johnson cocked up his mayoral appointments?
Have we just witnessed the first significant cockup of Boris’ second stint as mayor? City Hall spinners have briefed that Kit Malthouse has been dumped as deputy mayor for policing to make way for former Hammersmith & Fulham Council, Stephen Greenhalgh (pictured):
Many congratulations to Stephen Greenhalgh on becoming Boris’s Deputy Mayor. Good news for Boris and London. Bad news for criminals.
— Greg Hands (@GregHands) May 8, 2012
But the position of deputy mayor classified as a politically restricted advisory position — which is out of bounds for a councillor. Boris’ team don’t seem to be familiar with City Hall’s own interpretation of the so-called Widdicombe rules, which state:
“senior officers should not be politically active, and as a consequence should not be councillors.”
To accept the role, Greenhalgh would presumably need to resign his seat, causing a by-election.
It looks like normal service has resumed.
Boris slams David Cameron during his victory party speech
With his terrible acceptance address panned by right and left, it seems Boris was saving his best lines for his champagne-fuelled victory party:
Boris “We survived the rain, BBC, the Budget and [muffled] David Cameron”
— Guido Fawkes (@GuidoFawkes) May 5, 2012
This comes after a former Tory PPS told the BBC that Cameron was “on notice”.
Looks like it’s open season on Dave.
Boris campaign use taxpayer-funded resources to get out their vote
No sooner had Scrapbook exposed the frantic attempts to backtrack from (illegal) political campaigning with the @MayorOfLondon twitter account than it seems to have happened again.
This morning the account called for Londoners to head to polling stations — adding the dubious qualification that they should vote for whoever they like. With Boris branding and 277,000 followers however, there will only be one candidate benefiting from these messages.
Polls are open. Please use your vote – whoever you support
— Boris Johnson (@MayorofLondon) May 3, 2012
Don’t let the rain dissuade you. Use your vote – whichever way you want to cast it
— Boris Johnson (@MayorofLondon) May 3, 2012
Doubtless Conservative activists will feign shock at our cynicism.
City Hall emails reveal panic over Boris campaign Twitter hijack
Emails obtained by Scrapbook reveal panic at City Hall after Boris Johnson’s campaign hijacked the mayor’s twitter feed in March. With criticism pouring in, Boris’ most senior aide Guto Harri desperately tried to figure out an official explanation for the theft — while civil servants were ordered to delete electronic references to the @MayorofLondon twitter.
Having transferred the account, which boasted 250,000 followers by virtue of being maintained by taxpayer-funded staff for four years, Johnson’s camp took four hours to realise they were in breach of strict purdah election rules — with some also claiming staff had authorised the illegal transfer of a public asset.
An email sent to staff at 4:22pm pleaded:
“If you have any links to @mayoroflondon on your email signature or anywhere else, please can you remove it asap?”
And despite attempts that afternoon to disseminate campaign propaganda with the account, Guto Harri led attempts to backtrack towards a tenable holding position:
“The feed will provide non-political information about his ongoing duties and experiences as Mayor (not candidate)”
Harri warned staff: “I would also like to make clear that you should all avoid any involvement” with the account “for your own protection.” By 7pm, however, legal sense had prevailed and the account was returned to public ownership.
To paraphrase City Hall’s head of media: if anyone has any faith in the Boris campaign’s competency, please could they remove it ASAP?