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Eight of Ken Livingstone's closest "cronies" are to receive pay-offs totalling £1.6 million after he changed the rules before he lost the election.
The former senior City Hall advisers were political appointments on fixed-term contracts. By lawthey had to lose their jobs when Mr Livingstone lost the election.
Last year, Mr Livingstone introduced a rule which allowed them severance payments by giving them the same redundancy rights as permanent employees.
They are now to get an average of £200,000 each after several appointed solicitors and threatened to sue the new Mayor, Boris Johnson, for "unfair dismissal".
Those getting payoffs include John Ross, Mr Livingstone's economic adviser; Redmond O'Neill, his adviser on transport; Simon Fletcher, his chief of staff, and Mark Watts, his climate change adviser, all of whom are current or former senior members of Trotskyite group Socialist Action.
Mr Ross, Mr O'Neill and Mr Fletcher were the key members of what was dubbed the "Kenocracy," the fanatically loyal group of advisers who worked for Mr Livingstone long before he became Mayor and who imposed his will on City Hall. Others being paid off include John Duffy, Mr Livingstone's adviser for waste; Murziline Parchment, his director of major projects, and Joy Johnson, his former head of PR. None was available for comment.
Mr Livingstone's most controversial former adviser, Lee Jasper, gets no money because he was forced to resign after investigations by the Standard.
The payoffs are calculated on their years of service and are so high because each was paid a minimum of £121,000 a year, among the most generous salaries in local government, while employed at the Greater London Authority.
The average payout to the eight is significantly greater than the " resettlement grant" Mr Livingstone is getting, believed to be between £68,000 and £90,000. They will be paid in full whether or not they get other jobs.
The eight staff were appointed by Mr Livingstone under section 67, subsection 1, of the GLA Act, which allows the Mayor to hire two political advisers and up to 10 other staff. The Act says that "no appointment under sub-section 1 above shall be such as to extend beyond the term of office for which the Mayor was elected". It does not make any mention of severance payments.
Last year, however, Mr Livingstone changed the rules. In a written report to the Assembly on 17 October, unnoticed at the time, he said that he had "agreed to incorporate [a] revised compensation payments policy... into the employment contracts" of his political appointees.
The new policy, following one previously agreed for "non-political" GLA staff by the London Assembly, said that "fixed-term employees are subject to the same employment rights as permanent employees and will be eligible... for redundancy rights after two years". A spokeswoman for Mr Johnson said he was "dismayed" to have been forced to make the payments but had been advised that there was no alternative. "The legal advice was that their rights under employment law outweighed the provisions of the GLA Act," she said. "The Mayor feels that the law is flawed on this issue."
Tony Travers, London government expert at the LSE, said: "I think most people will be shocked. You could do quite a lot about knife crime with £1.6 million. It is odd indeed that the full benefits of labour laws designed to protect the vulnerable are being claimed by courtiers who knew they would lose their jobs if their master lost the election. I don't think people inside the system understands how this merry-go-round of excess looks to outsiders. It is, to put it kindly, generous for Boris to be paying this - but it also unquestionably damages Ken."
Mr Travers said one reason why the advisers might have sought the money would be to finance Mr Livingstone's declared campaign for re-election in 2012, or at least to allow them to support themselves while they work for him. None of the advisers is yet believed to have found another job. But he added: "This damages Ken's credentials for running again. It undermines any sense of his being a man of the people."
Lib-Dem Assembly member Dee Doocey condemned the payments as "totally inexcusable." She said: "I used to be finance director for the Liberal Democrats and I dealt with the secretaries and researchers of MPs who lost their seats. They got little or nothing. It seems like there's one law for the ordinary working person and one law for the political class."
However, Mr Livingstone said: "It's a question of what the law requires. Either there's a legal responsibility or there isn't." He said he was aware of his advisers' legal claims but had "not been involved" in their discussions with the GLA. He added that he changed the rules last year on legal advice following a change in the law.
Three further staff of Mr Livingstone's, including his partner, Emma Beal, who managed his City Hall office, are pursuing as yet unresolved complaints against the GLA.
Reader views (35)
What's that Gilligan? "In a written report to the Assembly on 17 October, unnoticed at the time"... Unnoticed at the time? I thought you were journalist of the year? Surely you wouldn't have let this go unnoticed at the time?
- Billy Bob, London
"All the way up there in Scotland worrying about us Londoners. How kind of you. Now, do think its possible to take jock Brown and Darling back to Dromnadrochit before they do any more damage here in England."
And you call Boris Right wing. A little bit of Xenophobia chucked in there. I am sure you were calling for the head of James McGrath for saying people should "Go Home".
Not Atypical of Ken's support though. It is so far to the left it has circumnavigated the globe and ended up on the far right. Al Qaradawi anyone?
- M Spanner, Ilford
Mikko Tikala,
All the way up there in Scotland worrying about us Londoners. How kind of you. Now, do think its possible to take jock Brown and Darling back to Dromnadrochit before they do any more damage here in England.
- James Hennessy, london england
A few Londoners might be surprised at the pay off for the formers mayors advisers but for the majority of us its nothing more than we expected, I was always baffled by the somewhat 'siege mentality' at the old gla, it was conspired from the top to the bottom of the organisation to be 'everyone is against us attitude' that might have worked in the late 80's but in 2008 its obnoxious. I presume they will defend their payout as a point of law and hold their collective head up with complete indifference to anyone that dares ask if its the right thing to do, but spare a thought for honest and forthright lee jasper, he threw the towel in because of the pressure of being in the limelight and wanted to ensure Mr Livingstone returned to his rightful place as leader of the gla, some cynics might say he was waiting for a phone call from Mr Livingstone to return to his former job, but as we now know, it wont be happening, maybe his services will be used on the radio for his candid views. After all,its not every day you miss out on 200 grand....
- Jonnie Of Brixton, london
Why no mention of London having to return 7 million pounds to Venezuela because of Johnson's right wing ideology?
Lets have some balance here, Please.
- James Hennessy, london england
Great timing with this article - I'm more concerned about the loss of £7m earmarked for deprived Londoners. But as I said, great timing, masking a much more serious blow to the city.
- Charlie, London
Ken is a true champagne socialist and only idiots ever bought his nonsense.
- Mikko Takala, Drumnadrochit, Scotland
Mr Gilligan- did you convniently forget to quote this part?;
"The Mayor wants to make clear that he has no problem with the staff who by all accounts served the previous Mayor well. The Mayor has followed legal advice on this matter and made a decision with the taxpayer in mind. These members of staff are entitled to these settlements. They are only receiving what they are entitled to. Some members of staff have over 20 years loyal service in local government and payments were agreed with this in mind."
Truth, Mr Gilligan,truth. Not spin.
- Fresh, london
Get into bed with villains (Ken being the biggest ever) hat do you expect the biggest con merchant since houdini,at least he was genuine§.
- Terry, newark
Morvan:
I think you've answered your own question there.
Ahh! France....wish I was there now.
- Silent Hunter, Fintry, Scotland
Now Livingstone is OUT keep the creature OUT, where ever he plies his trade corruption is not far away.
- Jane, Tower Hamlets, England.
What happened to 1 1/2 weeks for every year at 41+? The government sets those rules for everyone else but themselves?
- Ins, London
One has to wonder about the timing of this article as it appears just as we learn (or some of us learn) that London now has to return 7 million pounds to Venezuela following Johnson's decision to cancel the cooperation agreement with that country. These are 7 million pounds that were originally meant to be used to maintain a transport discount program for Londoners on income support.
This piece of news might have proven quite embarrassing to Johnson but, fortunately for him and thanks to the magic of a docile, pro-Boris media landscape, it was quickly eclipsed by this "payoff" story.
- Eric Williams, London, UK
I suggest Livingstone pays the money himself!
- Vince London, West London
Indeed - what about the Assembly - if memory serves right, they approved the change in status in return for some "benefits" for themselves - like increased budgets for the Assembly in various areas.
I hope the Assembly does its job for the first time in 8 years, i.e to scrutinise the Mayor- not - to pander to the Mayor in return for more positive profile and spin.
- Jc, se1
Misfeasance in public office lock Ken Livingstone up for 20 years. "mis'fiz(a)ns" "The wrongful exercise of lawful authority" Carries a life sentence. No wonder politicians don't want to use it. However, its there to help safe guard our democracy that has been put through the mill and battered by the Scots communists.
- Mike, London
Now that this has been found out, is Boris Johnson planning to revise the rules or will his cronies too be able to milk this system?
- Simon, London, England
I wonder if Ray Lewis will also get the payout? Perhaps not, he wasn't around that long.
- Dhanraj, basildon, essex
These people and Ken are now shown to be the scroungers of all time...let us hope Ken has the decency not to stand for office again, nor any of these or Emma Beale to find jobs in the GlA.
- Jean, London England
And what about ken's "wimmin" - Joy Johnson is on that list but what about the others the ES mentioned a few weeks ago.
Once upon a time people would have walked away and put it down to their time being over -now it seems everyone gets paid off.
Ps - don't expect anything different at the end of Bojo's term though
- Jc, se1
That's socialism for you! Look after their cronies and despise the working class in a socialist mickey mouse world they live in.
- Joe, Swanley Kent
This should be fought on these grounds. If these were political appointments, then I would hazard a strong guess that the formalities and procedures required for administrative\executive employment were not followed. In that very likely case, when the contracts were changed to relabel them as Permanent Employees, they should have had to re-apply for their jobs under the same terms as anybody responding to a job advert.
This is corrupt, in principle if not in law, and in law I think it is worthwhile to attempt the case. Public money is for public employees, not political appointments which these seem to have started out as.
- Snegchui, London
Cue the Zone 1 Socialists commenting about 1 party with caviar costing a few hundred pound as an excuse for wasting £1.6m on his Socialist Action Cronies.
Still it's nothing compared to the £9bn that the rest of the country has to pay for Ken's regeneration plan for his voters in the East End.
- M Spanner, Ilford
The stink of corruption and hypocrisy clings to Livingstone like a cheap suit.
- Richard, London
JJ - two wrongs do not make a right. I cannot see who this can be fair to the people of London whatever else has happened. Maybe you would like to explain ethical and moral arguments of these payouts to my sister the lowpaid policewoman or my sister the lowpaid nurse? Or how about trying to convince all of London that this is a good use of their hard earned money?
- Michaela Deighton, Hackney, London
He didn't have a choice. It is as the old mob saying "They
know where the bodies are buried".
- Jet, Mpls MN USA
And these people are SOCIALISTS! Trough-snouters, the lot of them. No doubt they'll find new jobs in the EU.
- Kevin T, Beckenham
Ken, Ken, Ken not just a creepy animal at least you know how to look after your friends. Thank god I voted for Boris.
- Oscar, London
Don't blame Livingstone, he was only protecting his own. What the hell was the Assembly doing in approving this change; were they all asleep, or did it have a Labour majority at the time?
- Morvan, Saulieu, France
This just goes to show what socialist (Labour) politicians think of their constituents - Don't do as I do, just do what I tell you!
- G D (Ray) Helliar, Southend on Sea Essex
Boris, and any subsequent Mayor, will only get the respect of the electors if he crushes this 'gravy train' culture. To be selected for public office should be reward in itself. I am sure they could have a little back out of their salaries whilst in office.
- Patrick Griffin, Dalston, London
Oh dear we are in a mess, all around is despair with Nu-Lab's dishonesty and corruption. How will Cameron ever get us back to normal.
- Mike, London
Oh no! Shock horror! This writer has an unhealthy obsession for Livingstone. I wonder how much the taxpayer forked out for Johnson's caviar and champers celebration bash?! Or, how much Johnson's cronies are on?! Pure comedy.
- Jj, Hammersmith
a contractor with redundancy rights? that's a permanent employee.
Since when did an elected mayor appoint office based advisers and staff in this manner?
- Scott, london
This is disgraceful! £200K each? After 8 years of waste and after being booted out by the electorate 'Comrade' Ken is still ripping off Londoners. BJ should freeze these payoffs and use the money on something more beneficial for the people.If this is 'unfair dismissal', then they should be suing the previous Mayor as he appointed them.
- Mike Stern, london
