Boris Johnson’s chief exec is stepping up plans to steamroller the independence of the London Assembly - the body set up to scrutinise the Mayor & Executive.
The independence of the London Assembly is under threat following the revelation that Boris Johnson placeman Leo Boland, chief executive of the Greater London Authority, is seeking powers “to monitor and review all official scrutiny reports produced by the Assembly”.
Documents leaked to journalist and blogger Tory Troll state that Mr Boland wishes to:
“Review draft scrutiny reports before their publication for the purposes of providing quality control and oversight of the written output from the Authority.
“This opportunity for review would be personal to the Chief Executive and would not be delegated to any other officer.”
His justification for this is:
(a). “It would provide the Chief Executive with direct oversight and input into the quality of scrutiny reports.”
(b). “The Chief Executive would be aware of reports before their publication, and would be able to anticipate any potential issues of conflict or controversy.”
Such measures, if approved, would appear to call into question the very purpose of the legislature – as set out in its Mission Statement, which reads:
“The London Assembly holds the Mayor of London to account and investigates issues that matter to Londoners. Its 25 members are elected at the same time as the Mayor.
“The Assembly works by directly questioning the Mayor about his activities, strategies and decisions. It also publishes the findings and recommendations from its investigations and makes proposals to the Mayor.”
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13 Responses to “Boris adviser’s secret plans to crush Assembly’s independence”
Arnold B Smith
Shamik – What a disgrace you’ve made of this blog. You have the leader of the house, that Countess Toff Harriet Harman leaving the scene of a crime, six Labour MP’s, the governing party of this country, stealing tax payers money, soldiers being killed in Afganistan because Brown won’t equip them properly and then that idiot Bob Ainsworth smearing character of a dead soldier, this useless government borrowing as much taxpayers money as they can before being rumbled next year, the worst Queens speech on record and you go on about Boris Johnson?
Get a grip on reality Shamik – if this job is to much for you to cope with then move over and let someone else take over. You are not helping the Labour parties cause with this rubbish. Get a real job – this is over your head.
Shamik Das
That’s it, just go off on a tangent and ignore the actual post. And yet again, someone accusing others of insulting and smearing people while doing the exact same thing. The Boris stooges are clearly rattled.
Anon E Mouse
Shamik – You say: His justification for this is:
(a). “It would provide the Chief Executive with direct oversight and input into the quality of scrutiny reports.”
(b). “The Chief Executive would be aware of reports before their publication, and would be able to anticipate any potential issues of conflict or controversy”
Why shouldn’t the CEO do this? What’s the point of him being the CEO if not?
Are you seriously suggesting that Brown and his cronies haven’t spent the last 12 years doing exactly that and worse by spinning? WMD anyone?
Why don’t you answer some of the stuff Arnold B Smith asks – to me it seems far more important than this “story” and who is he insulting and smearing?
Nothing he posted seems untrue – is it a smear because you don’t like it?
Blogs are supposed to be about open and honest discussion, challenging different views and putting forward opinions for healthy debate.
That is the way Will Straw portrayed LFF to Sky News – has your mission statement changed?
To me this is unimportant it is a non story, just a means of filling space on the site but obviously others feel differently.
With these sorts of stories though I suspect Guido Fawkes won’t be shaking in his boots!