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Mayor: I was wrong - and in the dark --over what happened to City Hall grants
Ross Lydall, City Hall Editor08.02.08
Mayor Ken Livingstone was under intense pressure over the City Hall grants scandal after admitting his comment about "a full audit trail" was untrue.
The Mayor made the admission at an emergency session of the London Assembly called to quiz him about millions of pounds given in grants by the London Development Agency to projects run by friends of his top adviser Lee Jasper, with little or nothing to show for them.
He is facing calls to sack Mr Jasper after a string of revelations made by the Evening Standard about the grants and the conduct of Mr Jasper, who is the Mayor's personal appointee.
In a bruising two-and-a-half hour meeting in front of the London Assembly, Mr Livingstone admitted that:
• His claim that there was a "full audit trail" was "off the cuff " and not the case when he made it.
• He was in the dark about how the money was distributed when it was paid by the LDA.
• Mr Jasper was "brutal" to junior staff and a "bit robust" in a string of emails to junior civil servants telling them to intervene in projects which he was patron of.
• A code of conduct for his advisers would have to be introduced to regulate their behaviour.
When the Evening Standard broke the story in December linking Mr Jasper to a number of organisations that had received funding, Mr Livingstone told the BBC and his weekly press conference that there was a "full audit trail" of the grants. But last night he admitted that this was not the case and, in fact, he was in the dark about the process of awarding the money until an LDA internal inquiry reported last month.
The Mayor said: "Until we got the result of the audit investigation a couple of weeks ago, we didn't know. We didn't know any money wasn't accounted for."
He said he was "100 per cent certain" the Standard's exclusive about the scale of grants given to friends of Mr Jasper, with little or no apparent results, "wasn't true" when he made the comments.
But he said his remarks about a "full audit trail" were made off-the-cuff in an exchange with BBC London political editor Tim Donovan.
In fact the Standard journalist who broke the story, Andrew Gilligan, had submitted 80 detailed questions to the Mayor's office about the LDA's activities a week earlier, which would have alerted Mr Livingstone to the concerns.
The police are now investigating six grants after an internal LDA inquiry was unable to conclude whether the money was fraudulently spent due to a lack of investigative powers.
Mike Tuffrey, Liberal Democrat group leader on the Assembly, said: "Far from their being a full audit trail, police have had to be called in on six occasions. Is the truth that your administration is out of control, your office and your aides are intervening across the GLA family in ways that are simply inappropriate?" The Mayor faced down a series of hostile questions from the cross-party Assembly, which had received almost 900 pages of LDA documents outlining its funding of numerous community organisations, including email correspondence with mayoral aides such as Mr Jasper.
Mr Livingstone admitted the approach of Mr Jasper - one of about six key aides who earn around £120,000 a year to enforce the Mayor's orders across organisations such as the LDA and Transport for London - was "robust".
He told the Assembly: "My staff are there to advise. They will intervene aggressively and robustly if they think things are not being delivered.
"I think you can characterise Lee as being a bit robust and a bit brutal in some of those emails. But who am I to cast the first stone? Once in 100 times it has to get a bit nasty or London loses out. It's never going to be a vicarage tea party."
The Mayor conceded that junior civil servants within his wider empire needed written guidance on how to handle "brutal" approaches from the likes of Mr Jasper, his policing and equalities policy director.
He said: "I'm quite happy to say we need a code that defines for more junior staff what the nature of the relationship with my staff is, so that when there is a robust conversation they know how to deal with that."
The meeting increased pressure on Mr Jasper, who is expected to be questioned by the Assembly within a fortnight.
Tories, Lib Dems and One London Party member Damien Hockney said Mr Jasper should either resign or be sacked.
Tory mayoral candidate Boris Johnson said: "The Mayor's arrogance is breathtaking. From what he said yesterday, it is clear there is no audit trail for money that has been wasted. We had no explanation, just old-fashioned rants. London has moved on. It's a pity our mayor hasn't."
Reader views (6)
I wonder if ken will now retract his several statements that this is a 'racist' investigation?
- Anthony House, Cambridge
Glad to hear that you admit that you were wrong on this issue, Ken. Can we now expect an apology for
Introducing bendy buses
Scrapping the routemaster
And introducing the congestion charge?
- Marc, Harrow, Uk
Sorry but isn't 'being in the dark about how the money was distributed!' and 'not knowing the money wasn't accounted for!' a flagrant dereliction of duties by the Mayor? If he's not responsible for accounting for over 3million of the public purse, who is?
That amount of money would have made a significant difference to inner city development.
Mr Mayor and Mr Jasper...stop bullying London's electorate and remove yourselves from Office! The people of London deserve better!
- Stephanie Harwood, UK
Why would you use so clear a term as "FULL audit trail" "off the cuff". There either IS one or there ISN'T. Don't say until you know. But this is never Ken's way, he insults and defends and then backtracks later. I think it makes him look very foolish. And I hope it makes him un(re)electable.
They are dealing with HUGE amounts of LONDONERS' money! Shouldn't they be accountable? Not every now and then, but all the time.
- Goldengater, SF CA USA
Does this latest revelation not prove "beyond all reasonable doubt" that anything and everything the Mr Livingstone has to say can be taken with a pinch of salt?
For "justice" to be served in this nasty, sleazy affair what must now happen is that the services of both Mr Livingstone and Mr Jasper must be dispensed with - with immediate effect - and without any "severance payments and/or packages" of any kind.
This charade, is such a bad joke that it is almost funny . . . With the exception, of course, that the negligence, incompetence, lack of integrity, lack of honesty, lack of responsibility and lack of accountability is all at the taxpayers' expense.
Get rid of both of them now!
- Fraser, Telford Park
I believe it is about time this extra tier of very very expensive Government was done away with. Too many pigs at the trough for little reward, and the Londoners are being "scammed" to much.
- Patricia Hopkin, London
