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Boris gives scathing verdict on Ken's 'very sleazy' reign
Paul Waugh, Deputy Political Editor20.08.08
Boris Johnson has described Ken Livingstone's regime at City Hall as "pretty sleazy" and warned that criminal prosecutions in connection with misuse of public funds are "almost certain".
In an interview for Total Politics magazine, due out this Friday, the Mayor of London gives his most savage assessment yet of Mr Livingstone's eight-year reign in the capital.
But in a further gaffe that will be seized on by his Labour critics, Mr Johnson also makes clear that he still harbours ambitions to be Tory party leader and declares that being Mayor is a "hundred thousand" times bigger than being a Shadow minister.
Mr Johnson said that the allegations about grants given by the London Development Agency were still active and pointed to a culture at City Hall.
“I think parts of Ken's regime, or parts of the immediate vicinity of his regime, had become pretty sleazy, or very sleazy indeed. I don't for one minute think Ken was personally corrupt, but it's like any bunch of guys who've been around too long," he said.
"I think they were very, very casual with public money and they were reckless in the way they spent it. The worst thing they did was undermine confidence in the ability of this body and particularly the London Development Agency to manage public money."
He admits that his recent Forensic Audit Panel did not conclude on allegations that public funds had gone missing, but stresses that the police are still looking closely at the affair.
“Don't forget there are six or seven police investigations going on, some of which will almost certainly lead to prosecutions,” he says.
Mr Johnson also risked irritating Tory HQ just a day after he dismissed David Cameron's "broken society" message as "piffle".
When asked about his own future political ambitions, Mr Johnson replied by quoting Michael Heseltine's infamous formulation whenever he was asked about challenging Margaret Thatcher.
“Look, I really cannot foresee the
circumstances in which I'll be called upon to serve in any such office,” he said.
He added that his current job was much more important than being a shadow minister.
“How big it is. I'm in government. This is government. This is big. This is huge. Huge, huge. This is bigger than my last job as a shadow spokesman by a factor of a hundred thousand."
Reader views (5)
"Who Do You Think You Are" was telling about Boris's character last night. He was worried that he would be exposed as not entirely English and sought to reassure his constituents. Given Boris long list of apologies to offended minorities it's hard to argue he does not hold some very unpleasant views. Someone who worries about their ethnicity to that extent is not fit to govern a multi-cultural city.
- Dr Susan Porter, London
Go Boris, expose these people for what they are.
Can someone clean up the NHS in the same way. I don't mean the MRSA and other nasty diseases, but the staff and their job gradings! Jobs for friends and family!
- Triffid Queen, Somewhere at a desk in London
Socialists and communists in democracies with their hands on money tend to spread an awful lot of it around among their friends on social engineering projects whose outcomes are difficult to monitor: they waste it. But of course those friends profit and don't let the money go to ''waste.''
- Dan Schwartz, Sayreville, NJ, US of A
C'mon Boris if you want to look at fraud in public finance aren't you missing the Numero Uno - the Con-Zone.
The congestion zone costs over £200m a year for motorists and has achieved zero reduction in congestion and zero reduction in pollution. It is one of the biggest frauds in British political history.
It was such a miserable failure to achieve either target Red Ken tried to slime his way out by renaming it the Climate Zone and trying to tax CO2 - which Porsche had answered with a Kings College study.
Take Transport for London and the Champagne Charlie fat cats at Capita Plc to the Serious Fraud Office.
- Johnny Boy, London
That's more like it, Boris! Let's drag Ken and those in his immediate vicinity through the courts...surely forensic auditors could be made to find something 'incriminating'.
Just tell the police that we want our pound of flesh!
- Mike Kennedy, London, UK
