Boris has no need to answer MP’s questions
April 3, 2009 by Martin Hoscik · 10 Comments
It seems some people are getting very excited about Boris Johnson’s appearance in front of the Commons Transport Committee as part of their investigation into the snow falls of February 2nd but while the media focus on yet another storm in a tea cup, I’m left wondering what Boris was doing there in the first place.
The very fact that Westminster politicians, none of whom apparently represent London constituencies, think they have a right to an answer from the Mayor shows just how shallow London’s devolution settlement is.
Londoners don’t need a committee of non-London MPs to hold the Mayor to account, they just need their elected Assembly to have sufficient powers to do the job properly.
Assembly Members, who are actually elected to scrutinise the Mayor, are required to pre-submit questions to the Mayor and be satisfied with with a written response to most of them.
It seems entirely reasonable that the next time Boris is called to give evidence to a committee of Westminster careerists he point out he has a real job to do and insist on providing written answers to them as well.
By the way, can anyone explain why MPs are duplicating the excellent work of the Assembly Transport Committee report which can be found here?
I watched with bated breath as these unelected bunch of party political activist tried to pull the Mayor apart.
Boris acted on the advise of experienced TFL staff who, rightly advised him that it was too dangerous to have busses on the roads and after a reported 30 accidents, he took them out of service.
A great decision, The last thing you want to see in your rear view is a bus skidding towards you at the lights unable to stop.
Questions should have been asked of local council transport managers, as to why we did not have enough salt supply’s and why the gritters were not employed sooner.
Although the Taxi trade carried on that night and done a fantastic job of getting the desperate people home, we have the luxury of not having to stick to a specific rout and I do believe it is a lot easier to drive a taxi than a bus in these horrendous conditions. But even I had to stop well before my usual time because it became just too dangerous.
I would bet that most, if not all of these Assembly members, were at home in the warmth of their bed when this incident occurred.
Martin, you make a very good point, particularly as government ministers routinely refuse to appear before assembly committees. If the mayor refused to submit to any more of this partisan sniping he would only be following the example set by the labour cabinet.
The fact that none of the MPs have constituencies in London may go some way to explain why they were totally bewildered at the fact that no buses ran in London on 2 February while buses ran in their own constituencies in similar conditions. If taxis were able to run with no problems, it simply proves that buses (which are heavier and therefore have greater friction)should also have been able to run.
In the United Kingdom we are privileged to have Common’s Committee’s on a whole range of issues to investigate with the objective of making things better for all concerned. Hopefully this makes England a better place because we are continously working to make things better and trying to make sure we get it correct next time. For anyone that says that the committee regarding the snowfall was a complete waste of time and Boris Johnson should not have gone is completely rediculas.Everyone knew one week before that extremely heavy snowfall was due, so there was no suprise. Basically Boris Johnson had to be polite and answer numerous questions and that would have been it. But The Honourable Mayor for London Boris Johnson had to make a spectacular spectacle of the whole thing and show his arrogance and disrepect for the whole process. Boris did not have to do that, but he chose to. The position as Mayor for London is an important and responsible job or is it. What is Politic’s coming to ? We should all be concerned.
“anyone that says that the committee regarding the snowfall was a complete waste of time and Boris Johnson should not have gone is completely rediculas”
Leo, as someone saying exactly that, I disagree with you.
Boris doesn’t answer to MPs, they’re not his bosses. The Mayor is accountable to Londoners and to the London Assembly, not to committee of Westminster MPs.
As you say, there are questions about the poor performance of London’s transport but the Assembly has already investigated and reported on those, as I mentioned in the original article.
Martin,
You have missed a vital point. Boris did not bother meeting with his advisors before the snow came (and it was forecast beforehand) which is the reason he was so ill-prepared.
I don’t give a monkeys who’s juristiction it is – the current bodies that Boris is supposedly answerable to (GLA + Assembly) are obviously not good enough as no-one has actually picked up on this – however the comittee did.
I would also point out that while bankers have been dragged in front of that committee for their humbling over the financial crisis (and trust me, they didn’t have to) – Boris is the only one who is devoid of humility that he felt he didn’t have to answer to them.
I suppose your answer will be “yes he is accountable to the voters” – however without the right to recall this is joke.
The saddest part of this is it makes me concerned that perhaps the majority of Londoners are as daft, naeive and arrogant as Boris if they actually support this type of behaviour.
I am not a politician which means I can speak the truth – I’m not canvassing for votes in a popularity contest and I can see that sometimes the majority of people get it completely wrong as they have done with the appointment of Boris.
I’m afraid Londoners are sleepwalking to an unhappy conclusion by appointing a buffoon to steer the ship.
>> You have missed a vital point. Boris did not bother meeting with his advisors before the snow came <<
On the contrary, I’m quite aware of Boris’s failings and I’m still unconvinced that nothing could have been done to prevent the disruption.
As you know, I’m not by default a Boris supporter or defender so I’m reasonably certain I’m not guilty of sleepwalking into anything or blind to his faults.
As I think I said at the time, Boris’s performance on the snow issue seems to be adversely impacted by his ‘anything the boroughs want is fine by me’ approach to London Government.
Had he been more willing to challenge the Boroughs and be less pally with them I suspect we’d have a better response to the snow and better performance on the day.
My nearest local authority main road showed no signs of having been gritted before about 10am so I’m clear their were failures below GLA level.
All that said, I happen to think it’s wrong for a committee of people with no mandate from the London electorate to show a total lack of respect for London’s devolution settlement and duplicate work of the Assembly’s Transport Committee.
As for recall powers and accountability, I can only repeat that the committee members have no democratic accountability within London and say I’ve never heard a single detailed explanation of a workable recall procedure which would ensure legitimate protest could be heard and debated and at the same time protect the office holder from time wasting.
If we want to increase the Mayor’s accountability we could start by reversing the ‘presumed consent’ framework of the GLA’s budget setting procedures.
A need for the Mayor to secure a 2/3 majority for his budget – instead of the current illogical system – would do more to strengthen democracy in the capital than any other single idea and would require the simplest change of the law that it could be resolved in an afternoon of Parliamentary debate.
Given that most of the subsidy for London’s public transport comes from the UK taxpayer, the Department of Transport gave TfL £4.3bn in 2007/08, it is quite proper for a House of Commons Select Committee to ask why that money appears to be being wasted.
I don’t understand. There either were or were not things that could have been done on the day. But that is not the point. The arrogance and sense of entitlement of this man is breathtaking. If you are part of a political elite and have the priviledge to serve in this way you will have the courtesy to answer the questions of the select commitee. He is an embarrasement
Sadly Boris’s much publicised bad manners in front of the Committee (who are there to look after our interests after all) took all the attention away from the real topic which deserved better explanation. Thomasthetaxi is probably better qualified than most of us to comment on the conditions on the day and he would appear to be providing at least some of the answers Boris failed to make. We still do not know whether more could have been done to clear the roads. And had a sensible debate about whether we wanted to pay for it.