Richard Barnbrook and a joint conspiracy of silence

You may not have noticed, but Richard Barnbrook is now the country’s most electorally successful Nazi politician. I say you may not have noticed, because as far as the press is concerned he no longer seems to exist.

There was a minor outrage after he was elected and an even more minor outrage when he was allowed a blog on the Telegraph Website (clue: everybody is).

But since May there has been nothing, zero, zilch. Type his name into a Google News and you will get very little in return. But in the alternate universe that is the BNP blogosphere, Barnbrook is the stuff of legend. I mean literally. Take this story which has been doing the rounds over there for some weeks:
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London 2012: Cheap ‘n’ quiet

BJ the Mayor Bear has told MPs that he expects London 2012 to be “cosier” than this summer’s Olympics in Beijing. Considering the current economic woes, and the enormous scale of the Beijing games, surely this is something of a no-brainer?

From the BBC ::

Updating MPs on progress, the London mayor pledged to deliver a games “every bit as good as Beijing” without spending “colossal” sums of money.

He repeated his vow that the event would not go over its £9.3bn budget.

In light of the financial problems experienced building London’s other major “event” developments - Wembley Stadium and the Millennium Dome, you’ll forgive me if I remain sceptical that budgets can be honoured.

Bad Chancellor. Bad journalists

Surely, if there’s one constant in life, the Guardian ought to be mildly biased toward the Labour party? But based on its latest interview with Alistair Darling, we can’t even rely on that anymore.

The headline the Guardian has put on the interview - and therefore, the headline that the gibberingly mad press will also put on the interview, whilst also interviewing perverted and insane former Tory ministers, who’ll point out that actually it’s even worse still - is “Economy at 60-year low, says Darling. And it will get worse”.
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Why it’s OK to dislike Bob Crow

Bob Crow, the leader of the RMT rail workers’ union, is one of the less popular men in London due to his union’s propensity to go on strike at, apparently, the slightest provocation (most recently, a 5% pay rise, and someone being sacked for punching a customer - although I’ve got a theory about the 5% one).

And indeed, as someone who has to go to work, I irrationally hate and despise Mr Crow and the RMT for interfering in this already unpleasant process - in the same way you hate and despise the ‘person taken ill at Temple’ and hope the ‘person under a train at Moorgate’ is thoroughly squashed. But these hatreds are obviously unfair, and they disappear once you’re out of the tunnels and back in the real world…
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Why Gordon and Boris are in trouble

What do Gordon Brown and Boris Johnson have in common? The answer is that both are currently getting a beating in the media.

And I think this is central to answering to points: (1) Can a new Labour leader help the Labour party? (2) What’s going wrong with Boris Johnson?
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Another Boris deputy jumps ship!

Boris Johnson lost yet another top advisor today as his ‘First Deputy Mayor’ Tim Parker made a shock resignation.

Parker, who was appointed by Boris to be ‘Chief Executive of the GLA Group’ as well as Chair Transport for London had previously vigorously defended the extent of his powers.

But in a surprise move, he has now conceded that it is ‘not appropriate’ for him to undertake so much of the Mayor’s role.

“I have concluded…. that it would not be appropriate for an unelected official to chair a body which is responsible for most of the money and a large part of the brief of an elected Mayor. I also agree with the Mayor that my position as adviser does not justify my full time and exclusive commitment to the Greater London Authority, or the title of First Deputy Mayor. We have therefore decided to adjust the management structure and abolish that position.”

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We need a new paper for London

The Evening Standard has something close to a monopolistic position on London news. My objections are not because it is right-wing, obsessed with Ken or a bit tabloid.

Rather, it is that they are unchallenged in their position. My objection to the newspaper market in London is that it leaves great swathes of GLA and borough politics untouched.

Despite its attempts to move upmarket, ES’s news coverage is pretty poor. It doesn’t cover borough politics and only lightly covers the Mayor and GLA. There is room and need for competition for the broader (rather than just middle market tabloid) London news market. But the Evening Standard has singularly failed to capitalise on its online activities.

I believe that better news coverage and debate about London – effectively the fifth home nation – would be a good thing. The question is how.
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Veronica’s crony

We were assuredly told by someone who writes for the Evening Standard that the prospect of Ken Livingstone running again in 2012 is hilarious, the best thing that could possibly happen to Mayor Johnson four years from now.

So why can’t “London’s Quality Newspaper” stop fighting the 2008 election? Haven’t they noticed that their boy won? Or are they, perhaps, secretly worried that Livingstone might yet present a threat to him?

I ask this only because they’ve seen fit to make the redundancy payments of Livingstone’s former advisers their front page story. Er, scoop. Needless to say Veronica’s Cat - who only ever deals in facts, you understand - manages to describe these people as “fanatically loyal” and “current or former senior members of Trotskyite group Socialist Action”, just in case there was any doubt in our minds that the severance sums are undeserved.
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An open primary for London

In the past few months, we’ve heard a lot about what Barack Obama’s presidential campaign could teach British progressives (indeed, I’ve been more guilty of that than most), but too much has been vague hypothesising  and rueful ‘what ifs’, rather than a practical sense of how to get started.

So I think Sunder Katwala’s support for an open primary to choose the next Labour candidate for Mayor of London is a really positive first step.

There’s much in the mechanics of the Obama campaign (and the US netroots in general) that we can admire and wish to transplant into British politics, but as none of it has ever been tried before, we’ve no idea whether it would work in a country that appears to have a more cynical, less involved approach to politics than you’ll find in America.

At the very least, having an open primary in London would give us the opportunity to road-test methods like online fundraising, organising and building a movement that tries to reach as many people as possible (ie, not just Labour activists) and bring them into the tent.

If it doesn’t show any signs of success in Britain’s biggest city, then there’s not much hope for the rest of the country. However, if progressives do find some positive signs from the attempt, there’s hope that the process of choosing mayoral & parliamentary candidates could one day be more open, inclusive and, yes, democratic.

If Ken stands for Mayor, the left is in deep trouble

Sunder Katwala’s cautious note on Ken’s desire to run for London Mayor again doesn’t go far enough. I think it will be a disaster for the left (but not the Libdems).

In an article for CIF just before the mayoral elections I said this:

Even if Ken Livingstone loses on May 1, it cannot be denied that he stood firm in the face of media and New Labour hostility and pushed through an agenda that will continue to shape London for decades to come. He did so by realising that the rules that applied to other parts of England didn’t apply in London. He stared down Paul Dacre and went ahead with his leftist policies. Even Gordon Brown can’t claim that. And that’s probably why, despite all his faults, I will vote for Ken Livingstone.

So I realise what he symbolises for the left. Granted, as Sunder pointed out, he has name recognition and will be a popular choice among many. But I think he will lose us the election and we need to think this through with our heads not hearts.
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Ken Livingstone’s 30 year itch

Ken Livingstone has effectively begun a four year campaign to be London’s next Mayor, having turned himself into a one-man unofficial scrutiny committee of the new Johnson regime. He says that he will confirm his decision to run once Labour opens the nomination process in 2010 (though he has shown before that this might not be his only possible route to City Hall).

It is not difficult to see why running again appeals to Ken. It offers not the prospect of avenging his defeat to Boris Johnson and being back in office for the 2012 Olympics too. Were Livingstone to win the Mayoralty again, it would demonstrate political stamina and bounce-backability which might well be unparalleled in democratic politics.

But there’s the rub for Labour. Livingstone may now have his sights set on outlasting both Thatcherism and New Labour. But will the party want to run a candidate in 2012 who would not just be re-fighting the election of four years before, but who first held the leadership of the Greater London Council more than three full decades before?
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Journalism of denial

Naturally, “London’s Quality Paper” highlighted the bits that could be used to vindicate its dismal conduct during the election campaign and ignored any that didn’t. Predictably, the chief offenders seized on the report as an opportunity to attack Ken Livingstone again rather the face the fact that even this profoundly partial “audit” acknowledged that in many respects the LDA has done good work.

Never let reality get in the way of a good persecution, especially when you’ve invested so much of your collapsing credibility in it.

For the record, I’ve long been perfectly persuaded that the relationship between mayoral advisers and the LDA needs to be clarified. Indeed, it was the Standard that persuaded me. I’m also quite satisfied that Lee Jasper displayed poor judgment over some LDA grants and in one case hid from the consequences. He wouldn’t be my choice for equalities adviser either (though even his enemies applaud his work with the police.) But these were never grounds for a hard-right newspaper to smear the individual and an entire Labour administration, which is what the Standard and its political assassins did.
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Ken won’t be helping Patience Wheatcroft then

My dear little news story arising from Tim Parker’s Politics Show interview yesterday mentions that Mayor Johnson’s Forensic Audit Panel will be publishing its final report shortly in advance of Mayor’s Question Time on Wednesday morning.

It also mentions that Ken Livingstone was formally invited to meet the panel to help them with their work. There had already been an informal approach, rebuffed by Livingstone in clear terms. But last Tuesday Patience Wheatcroft wrote him this note:

Dear Mr Livingstone,

You will be aware that the current Mayor asked me to chair a Forensic Audit Panel looking into the operations of the GLA and the LDA. During the course of our work we have interviewed many members of the Assembly, LDA board and executives and GLA executives. It would be helpful if we were also able to talk with you. I know that an informal invitation to you has been extended and rejected but I would now like to issue a formal invitation to you to meet with the panel.

Livingstone has sent this reply:
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Investigation launched into Boris’s team

After two months of bungled appointments, lost salaries, and enforced resignations, the London Assembly have decided to launch a formal investigation into the way Boris Johnson has appointed people at City Hall.

The decision to launch an investigation came after the assembly were told that the current appointment procedures were ‘adequate’ by Boris Johnson’s First Deputy Mayor.

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Lewis’ resignation raises deeper questions

Ray Lewis intends to clear his name. But – while I am not entering into any discussion of the particular allegations against Lewis – this episode highlights some potentialy important challenges to the Cameron project.

The resignation has already generated increased scrutiny of whether the Conservatives are ready to govern. Boris Johnson and David Cameron may suggest they were unlucky: that they took a risk which backfired. But could this episode also cast the spotlight on what David Cameron’s ‘big idea’ of social responsibility adds up to?
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Ray Lewis resigns

Boris Johnson’s deputy mayor Ray Lewis has resigned, BBC News is reporting. More: The Telegraph and BorisWatch.

Boris Johnson: a list of gaffes and controversies

[Editor's note: It has barely been two full months and Boris Johnson has already been involved in a long list of gaffes and controversies. Below, we want to keep an updated list of of mis-steps so far and record his flip-flops because we can guarantee you certain newspapers won’t.]

This list will be updated regularly. (Last updated 19/8/08, 22.30.)

Help us build it up into a comprehensive Gaffopædia by submitting suggestions for additions and improvements in the comments below (or by e-mail).

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Boris Johnson’s cronies - to the rescue of cronyism

Last week Boris Johnson called for a two-term limit as part of his fight to “protect Londoner’s from cronyism”.

But as Boris’s own band of ‘forensic’ cronies release their interim report on waste at City Hall, it is worth remembering that it is not just time itself that leads to these problems, but the people who are chosen to set the clocks.

Because when Boris ran for Mayor, he did so off the back of a series of claims from the Evening Standard which centred around Ken Livingstone and his supposedly socialist cabal in City Hall. Boris deliberately never got himself involved with the detail of these claims, but instead positioned himself as the new broom that would sweep the old dirt clean.
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Half a million for the transition team

From Beau Bo D’or

Cost cutting Boris’ “transition team” alone costs half a million. Also now at: BorisWatch, Bob Piper and Dave Hill. Where art thou, Andrew Gilligan?

My ten question for Boris

He’s holding his first press conference today morning. I doubt I’ll get the chance to ask more than a couple of these, so here’s my full list for his and your consideration.
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