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Boris cuts £1m off cost of Beijing Games trip
Pippa Crerar, City Hall Editor12.06.08
Boris Johnson is slashing his official Beijing Olympics budget by more than £1 million after discovering a plan to fly 18 Gordon Ramsay chefs
to China.
It is part of a cost-cutting drive that could see the original £4.6 million Olympics bill cut by more than a quarter, the Standard has learned.
The Mayor has dropped plans by his predecessor Ken Livingstone to take the group of chefs to showcase British food, saying they were an unnecessary extravagance.
It would have cost London taxpayers £120,000 to fly them out to China and put them up in hotels for the duration of the Games. Mr Johnson is also
travelling economy class — although he is likely to get an upgrade from BA — and moving from the £400-a-night hotel booked for Mr Livingstone to a
more modest establishment.
The saving is just a fraction of the £1.2 million expected to be carved off the original £4.6 million budget for London House — a Beijing-based
venue aimed at promoting the capital ahead of the Olympics. The Mayor also plans to scale back on the cost of sending a delegation from City Hall.
He will be taking three senior advisers, two diplomats and five official observers with him from City Hall, although Transport for London and
the Met police will also have their own contingents.
All GLA staff have been sent a memo telling them that unless they can justify their presence as being essential, they will not leave London. A City Hall insider said: “Ken was going to pay out £120,000 for the Gordon Ramsay brand but the man himself was never coming.”
Mr Johnson has already dropped plans to send a red bus overland to Beijing after critics derided it as a gimmick and a waste of £500,000.
The GLA delegation is in addition to a substantial government contingent of five ministers and at least 50 public servants — with some paying £10,000 for just one week's stay. Gordon Brown, Olympics minister Tessa Jowell,
Culture Secretary Andy Burnham, sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe and trade minister Digby Jones will all travel to Beijing.
Reader views (18)
He may well have promised that he wouldn't be staying in a 400-pounds-per-night hotel - sadly, however, that is precisely what he is doing. He's staying at the Raffles, where rooms *start* at 400 pounds per night.
- Joe, London
Thanks, Boris! Maybe a million isn't much to Ken, but it sure is to me and the others who elected you.
- R M, London, UK
Common sense at last from an elected politician.
"I do not BELIEVE it!"
Keep it up Boris!
- David, Harlow, Essex ,UK
Well done Boris but a couple of red London buses (Route Masters) of course trundling around Beijing would be a good idea especially charging fares and paying their way. I think there is a company that arranges that kind of thing - also they could be left in Beijing and become a landmark.
- Kate, London
Let me see if I've got this right. 5 ministers, 50 public officials, 10 folk from London plus more unknown, all going at our expense to Beijing for the length of the Olympics. Hotels are £500 a night for starters. And think of the cost of all those lunches and dinners! Um, do we live in a modern democracy or in a medieval principality, run by a laird? Bet the DUP MPs are going too......
- John Problem, Winchester UK
Hurrah for Boris !
- Jon, London
Good start. Keep 'em coming. I weep buckets for those on the Gravy train now they have found out that it does not run any more.
If they believe that their presence is so necessary then let them pay for themselves.
- Dene Wood, Grays, Essex,
Maybe we ought to consider Boris for prime minister. He is making a lot of sense over these cuts.
- Norman, Oakham UK
I don't live in London, but have read the article. Good one Boris for saving some tax payers money. It's good to see that someone has some sense in high positions. When you've finished in London can you come and sort out Nottingham City Council please.
- Cathy,, Nottingham, England
Very good, carry on Boris... common sense will win the day.
- Ben, London
Brilliant! And sensible. Out of the money saved, we might make a contribution towards saving our green spaces.
- Helen, Norwich
Thank you Boris,I voted for you and you are delivering.
However,I have to say I do not agree with the Olympics coming to London but cut whatever you can there to save taxpayers money.
- Jean Matthews, London England
He won a scholarship to Eton and he won my vote. We need more like him - let's hope power does not corrupt him.
- Frederick, London
He may be flying economy, but he knows he will get an automatic upgrade from BA. I await with interest the details of the more modest hotel accommodation he has booked.
- Val Daniels, Mijas Costa. Spain
Well done Boris keep the cuts coming.
- J Wilson, Ealing
I was not a Boris voter, but this plan makes sense. Too many politicians and public servants are removed from the economic rigours that govern businesses like my own.
Good on Boris.
- Peter, London
Well done Boris! Stop all these freebies at the taxpayers' expense. Bravo for planning to fly economy class.
- V Tan, London
Surely they'll be taking the Gravy Train to Beijing?
- Philip, London, England
