A spokesman for the Greater London Authority has denied a series of allegations against Mayor of London Ken Livingstone and his staff which have been reported in today’s papers.
Both the Sunday Times and Observer newspapers feature allegations made by former Greater London Authority employee Atma Singh including that key members of Mayoral staff were "members of Socialist Action" – described by the paper as "a Trotskyite faction which plotted to turn London into a socialist city state".
The Observer reports that Singh, the Mayor’s former policy adviser on Asian affairs, described "how he and others breached the strict rules governing political campaigning, including raising money from donors for the Mayor of London’s election campaign."
The claims come ahead of a Channel 4 Dispatches programme focussing on the Mayor.
The GLA spokesman said:
"Mr Singh was removed from his job in the Greater London Authority for failure to discharge his duties in regard to aiding the police in anti-terrorist activities following requests for assistance from the Metropolitan Police anti-terrorism unit in early 2005 and failure to contact the Greater London Authority during the terrorist attacks on London on 7 and 21 July."
"’In February 2005 Mr Singh was contacted by the Metropolitan Police anti-terrorism unit to seek entirely specific and proper assistance from the Mayor’s Office in aspects of anti-terrorist activity. A meeting took place between anti-terrorism officers and Mr Singh but he failed to take any action to meet the anti-terrorism unit’s written request for assistance and also failed to inform the Mayor’s Office that this approach had taken place."
"The Metropolitan Police Special Branch anti-terrorism squad subsequently contacted the Mayor’s Office, and explained that they had received no response from Atma Singh. The Mayor’s Office then ensured that the assistance requested was effectively delivered."
"Atma Singh was the individual in the Mayor’s Office responsible for relationships with the Asian communities and the Muslim community but on 7 July 2005, the day of the terrorist bombing London, he failed to contact the Mayor’s Office in any way. He also did not contact City Hall following the attempted bombing of London on 21 July. For these, and further reasons, it was decided to remove Mr Singh from his job."
"This person is an embittered ex-employee who refuses to accept that this record of disregard for London’s security makes it impossible for him to work for the Mayor and Greater London Authority, which was why he was asked to leave for reasons that are self-evident."
Last year Mr Singh accepted £20,000 in an out-of-court settlement from the Greater London Authority after claiming he’d been subject to racism and bullying because of his reluctance to meet with Islamist groups.
