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Mayor 'could still take advice from disgraced deputy'
Katharine Barney, Evening Standard09.07.08
Boris Johnson may still work with his disgraced former deputy mayor - who had to quit after falsely claiming he was a magistrate.
It was revealed today that Ray Lewis could be consulted over matters regarding youth work - but in an informal capacity and without payment.
The Mayor's new chief of staff Tim Parker today told the London Assembly that Mr Lewis's departure from City Hall was a "sad" event and that his expertise should not be ignored.
Mr Lewis was forced to resign as Deputy Mayor for Young People and Opportunities on Friday following the Evening Standard's revelation that he had misleadingly claimed to be a magistrate and had also been barred from ministry in the Church of England.
Today Mr Parker said: "We will be leaving the door open.
"This is a man who has made immense contributions to the field and I can't pretend that he doesn't leave a gap we hadn't planned for.
"I would see it as a very sad state of affairs if someone resigns from office subject to enormous scrutiny and you just write him out of the public equation and are unable to take advantage of whatever he has to contribute.
"Ray is not receiving any remunerationbut he's got something to contribute. There are many people out there who are involved in this very challenging work and it may be the case and I certainly wouldn't want to rule out working with Ray in his capacity at the Eastside Academy."
But the deputy leader of the Labour Assembly members, John Biggs, criticised the decision. He said: "If Boris Johnson is prepared to keep working with Ray Lewis then why did he accept his resignation and cancel the inquiry?
"Of course he has the right to try and clear his name but it is very difficult to see how he could continue his work, valuable as it is, here at City Hall."
Mr Parker also ruled out launching a full-scale inquiry into Mr Lewis, saying that he thought it was a waste of public money.
The new chief of staff also defended the recruitment process at City Hall and said that although he was "disappointed" in the events surrounding Mr Lewis's departure it "did not invalidate the process".
However he said there must be a review of "instances where people don't say 100 per cent of the truth".
Mr Parker, the First Deputy Mayor and chief executive of the GLA Group, was also asked about the lack of women in positions of power at City Hall.
Last month Mr Johnson removed five women from their posts at City Hall including Ken Livingstone's partner, Emma Beal, who was Mr Livingstone's administration manager.
He also decided to scrap the post of "women's adviser", held by Labour activist Anni Marjoram.
But Mr Parker defended the Mayor and insisted he was picking the best candidates regardless of their gender.
He said that it was easier to appoint women to posts for which few qualifications were needed but said that as jobs became more important it was difficult to find suitable candidates.
Mr Parker said: "When you go down the pyramid of an organisation you find many more posts that are open to a broader market and it's much easier there to be more equal, as it were.
"The narrower you get it's tougher and tougher and sometimes you will get a situation where there are more people leaving or more people from one group or another."
Reader views (9)
Just an aside-are or is Richard Barnbrooks office area
still isolated by Pot Plants and office furniture. Surely
those elected to the GLA are above this sort of infantile
practice. I was under the impression that all Elected
members of the assembly were treated with equal respect,
irrespective of their Political stance/beliefs.
At least it does allow Mr Barnbrook to carry out his work
in respect of the BNP without another looking over his
shoulder, to a certain extent that is.
I would be interested to know the extent of Mr Barnbooks
access to the Met. Police - information re: Crime in London.
Respectfully yours,
- Manuk White, Weybridge-England
Very selective reporting of this issue, Mr Parker was stating the complete obvious, and that is it does not matter what sex you are or what colour you are, people should only be recruited for a job for which they are qualified to do. Quotas will lead to failure, as it is based on filling jobs with numbers not people who are capable. Incidentally for the record the person who challenged whether this Ray Lewis person was a) on the payrole and b) still being used as an " advisor" was not the smearing sarcastic weazle of a man John Biggs, it was Richard Barnbrook the BNP Assembly member. Please get the facts right, as these meeting are televised and available for public scutiny, and those that fail to tell the truth will be found out quite easily.
- Dave, Boston, England (emmigrant from London )
I think you will find that by watching the webcast on the GLA's website that the comments made by Mr Biggs were in fact made by the BNP's Richard Barnbrook.
- Dean, London
It would be great if Boris Johnson would keep working with Ray Lewis and he would work for free, this would be a fantastic, positive step and I hope it happens.
- Angela King., London
Some years ago, I came across an incident where a prospective MP gave false details on his cv., and this was found out and the information given to the selection committee for his constituency. However, he was still chosen because presumably they had already made up their minds to have him...how many other times has this happened?
- Jonathan Montmorency, cooden, uk
"This is tantamount to saying that only men have the brain power to do the important jobs."
Once you get past the chips on your shoulder, you'd probably realise that your statement is totally incorrect: the term "qualification" means experience as well as pieces of paper. Personally, I'm all behind the plan to have the best people running London, regardless of any gender quota-filling which may have gone on in the past.
- St, London
"But the deputy leader of the Labour Assembly members, John Biggs, criticised the decision. He said: "If Boris Johnson is prepared to keep working with Ray Lewis then why did he accept his resignation and cancel the inquiry?"
Does anyone else get the impression that Biggsy is a bit more concerned about picking fights at the behest of Labour HQ, than he is with doing what is best for us Londoners?
- St, London
Boris, you were elected to get rid of sleaze in the Mayor's office, not continue with it.
- Vince London, West London
How insufferably patronising is this man. What he is saying in effect is that women in general are only qualified to do the more mundane jobs where few qualifications are required. Does he mean making tea and cleaning? This is tantamount to saying that only men have the brain power to do the important jobs. I believe it was a male holding down one of these important jobs, I think his name was Boris Johnson, who was so ill-equipped in the brain area regarding basic interviewing skills, that he allowed a person to hoodwink him into giving him a job as deputy-mayor. All you women in County Hall need to make your views known about these male cretins who think they know everything about running a large administration, but really know very little. Had those 5 women, and their knowledge and skills, been retained, the recent catastrophic egg on face episode might have been avoided.
- Val Daniels, Mijas Costa. Spain
