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First among deputies ... and ruthless to boot
Pippa Crerar, Political Correspondent22 May 2008
Boris Johnson's team are keen to talk up the human side of their new First Deputy Mayor.
Tim Parker may have a reputation for a "slash and burn" approach to organisations, but he also supports African development, plays the flute and is a "serious but modest" man.
But there is no getting away from Parker's ruthless streak. This is the man described by the GMB union as "The Prince of Darkness", who apparently once turned up in his Porsche to sack a group of factory workers and who halved the 7,000 workforce at the AA.
His mission is to use his private sector experience to turn the bloated, bureaucratic City Hall beast into a lean, efficient machine.
The multi-millionaire private equity boss,who is on a £1 nominal salary, talks of London taxpayers as "shareholders" and key services such as the Tube and Met police as "core products". Given that one of Mr Johnson's key election pledges was to give Londoners "more bang for their buck" than his predecessor, Mr Parker's appointment shows that he's serious about delivering.
Despite his new job working for one of the most high-profile Tories in the country, the 52-year-old's background lies on the other side of the fence. He chaired the Oxford University Labour Club when he read PPE in the Seventies and has admitted to being "quite on the left of the spectrum" as a student.
After Oxford he became a Treasury economist under Denis Healey but witnessing the dying days of the Callaghan government knocked socialism out of him.
He took an MBA and then went into the City. He worked for Thorn EMI, turning around a series of flagging smaller companies.
In 1995 he was recruited to run Clarks, where he slashed jobs, just as he had done with previous firms, closed factories and sold property.
The job cuts formula was repeated when Parker, who is married with four children, was hired to run Kwik-Fit in 2002 after it was snapped up by CVC Capital and again at the AA. He has always defended his actions, insisting that cost-cutting is inevitable when you turn round a company, and that he always tried to plough back savings into the business. "My interest is in the legacy I leave behind. 'Axe man' is a fairly cheap term," he has said.
There is no doubt that Parker will be the power behind Boris's throne. The Mayor will leavemuch of the nitty gritty to a man who, according to one insider, "has a lust for detail". Parker will chair Transport for London, take over the City Hall chief executive title and run the day-to-day operations, making him the second most powerful man in London.
Reader views (2)
The one saving grace is that before the next general election the goings on in London will show the rest of country that the Tories haven't changed at all.
- Bill, London, UK, 25/05/2008 00:40
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Oh dear Oh dear, a Tory ego maniac running essential services in London! the future does not look good, the capitol is entering a dark age, Boris and his pals are looking more and more like a bad error.
- Brian, Swindon, 22/05/2008 19:08
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