12.09.08
how open, transparent government works
Picture from leafar. on Flickr
When Boris Johnson campaigned to become Mayor of London, a major aspect of his platform was the claim that Ken Livingstone was operating a cliquey, unaccountable and opaque executive – in place of which he, Boris Johnson, would usher in a new era of transparency, openness and honesty.
This week, his most senior advisor on the Olympics – one of the two biggest projects London is undertaking during his tenure, the other being Crossrail – became the centre of attention after substantial financial misconduct in his day job (a senior executive and founder of Carphone Warehouse) came to light. Naturally, both journalists and, frankly, the people of London rather wanted to know what Boris was going to do about the fact that his Olympics advisor had just been kicked out of the City, and whether any action would be taken.
Here’s how Boris responded – transparent, open government in action. “La la la la”? Is this what centuries of development of democratic politics have won us?
Paul Ross, the chap in question, stepped down today. Which makes him, on this matter, a moral cut above Boris Johnson.
(A sidenote. Boris is presently under investigationмебели and may face a standards enquiry into his conduct over the whole Damian Greene affair, which I’ve blogged about before. Boris, you see, is chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority, and in that role – which is meant to be non-political – he was informed by the Met’s acting commissioner about the process of the investigation.
Unfortunately for Boris, his loyalty to the Tory party seems to be more important to him than his loyalty to the policing of London, so he reacted by making prejudicial public statements about the ongoing investigation (which he’s not meant to do), phoning up Damian Greene to have a chat with him about the whole thing (which he’s definitely not meant to do), and generally barging through every code of conduct the Mayor is meant to uphold like a bull in a china shop.
He may now face a standards enquiry which may well suspend him from office for some time – but has the power to remove him from his position and ban him from holding any public office for up to five years, should the allegations against him be upheld in full. It seems too much to hope for, but if there were ever an affair in which a politician deserved to be hoist on his own petard, it’s this one – and frankly, if any good at all is to come out of this sorry Damian Greene affair, it should be a clear line in the sand between operational policing and politics.)
Technorati Tags: Boris Johnson, Conservatives, Damian Greene, London, policing, politics, Tories
