The Met’s handling of the original investigation into allegations of phone hacking has already led to the resignations of Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson and Assistant Commissioner John Yates.
London Assembly and MPA member Jenny Jones says she will use the meeting to ask Mr Malthouse what action he took in 2009 “to follow-up the concerns of MPA members about the phone hacking investigation and the allegations of payments being made to police?”
Last week Ms Jones, who is also Green Party 2012 candidate for Mayor of London, wrote to Malthouse asking why the MPA was not consulted before the announcement of temporary officer appointments following the resignations.
In a letter sent to Mr Malthouse and copied to the media, Jones writes:
“I was surprised to see reported in the media the announcements about appointments having been made for acting Commissioner, acting Deputy Commissioner and the reorganisation of responsibilities within the senior management team. Who took the decisions? Were you consulted as Chair on the appointments? And why were MPA members not consulted about the changes?”
Jones has also asked whether AC Yates offered to brief Mayor Boris Johnson or Mr Malthouse when he offered to brief the Prime Minister on September 10th last year. At a July 2010 meeting of the London Assembly, the Mayor described allegations of widespread hacking as “codswallop”.
The Mayor recently defended the comments, saying they reflected his view at the time and insists he was always willing to review his stance if further revelations came to light.
In a statement Jones said “all members of the Authority will be expecting clear and honest answers about how Kit Malthouse has handled the phone hacking affair and what advice was given to the Mayor.
“Whoever made the mistakes at the time, it led to a situation where the Mayor completely misled the public about an active investigation into phone hacking and could well have influenced the outcome of that investigation with his remarks. That is a very serious issue, especially when it forms part of a pattern of misinformation and mistakes.”
