Author: Phil

The Mayor is at his dissembling best again today, this time talking about the Tour de France. He says:

The Grand Départ not only boosted cycling in London, but also brought rewards to the economy with an estimated £88 million being spent by spectators, teams and race organisers in London and the South East during the race weekend.

A quick look at TfL’s own report reveals that this absurdly inflated number includes £5 million spent by London taxpayers on the Tour de France. The document states:

The organisational spend of £5 million brought the total up to more than £73 million in London.

Add £15 million of spending in Kent to get the £88 million figure.

So £5 million of this £88 million was our own money. And who really benefits from the other £83 million? Does it bring in more business rates that can be spent on more services? No. Does it bring in more profit for private businesses who are capable of promoting themselves thank you very much? Yes, but … Does it really make any difference to London’s economy if someone buys an ice cream watching the Grand Depart or buys one in their local park?

And if you think £5 million was the total bill paid by public bodies for the Grand Départ you would be wrong. The answer is £10.5 million, see previous posting.

£9.2 million, the largest part of this bill, was paid by Londoners. At least TfL was sporting enough not to count the whole amount in their schedule of benefits, leaving out items such as the £3 million spent on adverts and the £1.5 bribe paid to the race organisers.

The Mayor brags that 3 million people came out to watch the Grand Départ but omits to mention that he gave them £3 per head. This might be great for fans of the dope on wheels circus that is the Tour de France but the rest of us might rather that the fans paid their way and we didn’t have to pick up their bill.

In his delusional press release the Mayor goes on to link this wasteful use of public money with his proposals for cycle commuting in London. Its like saying that the London Marathon has some kind of relationship to walking to work.

It seems that there is a limit even with Lee Jasper and his resignation letter has appeared on the Mayor’s website tonight.

Ken Livingstone
Mayor of London

4 March 2008

Dear Ken,

I am proud of my record in contributing to the huge reduction in racist attacks in London, the work I have carried out in partnership with the Metropolitan Police Service in relation to Operation Trident, reductions in the levels of domestic violence and the increased employment of Black, Asian and women officers.

Further, the work we delivered in ensured equality in London is delivered has been astounding.

However, it has become clear that a number of matters which are not of first importance in London are being used to distract from the crucial questions in the election campaign.

The racist nature of a relentless media campaign and the consequent effects on myself and family have placed an intolerable strain on all of us.

I have decided to put a stop to this by tendering my resignation.

Yours,
Lee Jasper

Maybe the real scandal is that this guy was paid at the same rate as a Cabinet minister and he can produce a sentence like this: “Further, the work we delivered in ensured equality in London is delivered has been astounding”.

To the last the guy is a creep, effectively accusing Andrew Gilligan of being a racist. Gilligan merely asked him to account for himself. That makes him a journalist, not a racist.

I guess that the Mayor was cutting his losses. Maybe he hopes that Gilligan hasn’t got anything on him and that he can end this here by making Jasper walk.

Jasper was due to face the London Assembly at 10am tommorow. Boris says:

Ken Livingstone has been standing by his man for years and in particular in recent months as allegation after allegation has emerged. The Mayor has repeatedly assured Londoners that there is a full audit trail for spent public money and that he trusts Lee Jasper with his life. The resignation of one of the Labour Mayor’s most senior and trusted advisers is further proof that Ken Livingstone has had his day. He has repeatedly said he is directly responsible for the actions of his advisers and he should take Jasper’s place tomorrow and answer the questions that Jasper won’t. Otherwise Londoners can only conclude he is arrogant and out of touch. Londoners deserve to know where their hard-earned cash has gone.

Ouch!

Labour activist Karen Chouhan gets the Gilligan treatment in the Evening Standard tonight. If the whole thing didn’t smell so badly it would be hilarious.

Click to enlarge to see what Jasper had planned for the Labour party conference in Manchester eighteen months ago.

The obvious questions to Jasper are:

1. Did you go?
2. If so, who paid for the hotel and other expenses?
3. Were you on holiday or were you working?

I pointed the finger at Chouhan back in August as it was clear that in criticising Boris Johnson she was not exactly an objective observer but was simply a Livingstone stooge, bought and paid for. The only way Chouhan could claim any objectivity in any comments she makes about London stem from the fact that she lives in Leicester and her views are thus unclouded by direct experience.

Only yesterday in an interview with the Independent Gilligan was telling how he was paying out this set of stories slowly and had thus succeeded in making the Mayor come out to defend Lee Jasper before Gilligan gave him the second barrel. Great tactics. The Mayor must assume that there are more barrels to come.

Gilligan says in the interview:

In some ways, Livingstone’s response has been more damaging than the allegations, because it has been so unpleasant, so transparently dishonest and so arrogant. The clear impression has come across of a man who doesn’t believe he should be held to account and doesn’t want to answer straightforward factual questions.

The Mayor’s website is notably quiet on this subject today. Perhaps the Mayor and his team of 265 PRs have at last worked out that staying quiet is the best response.