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| Boris Johnson: Barclays, bikes and overcharging | Boris Johnson: Barclays, bikes and overcharging |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| As his good friend Bob Diamond, long prominent among the Chums of Boris, prepared to be grilled by MPs, London's Mayor used Wednesday's monthly question time session to mount a tailored version of his now standard defence of his dealings with powerful people dragged under dark clouds. In this case it's not without merit: Barclays employs many people in London; a minority of bad employees doesn't mean the whole company's bad; these are hard times for public finances, and corporate sponsorship helps. | As his good friend Bob Diamond, long prominent among the Chums of Boris, prepared to be grilled by MPs, London's Mayor used Wednesday's monthly question time session to mount a tailored version of his now standard defence of his dealings with powerful people dragged under dark clouds. In this case it's not without merit: Barclays employs many people in London; a minority of bad employees doesn't mean the whole company's bad; these are hard times for public finances, and corporate sponsorship helps. |
| Mayor Johnson accepted that some Londoners might now be looking askance at the loudly ostentatious (my words) Barclays livery on the "best cycle hire scheme anywhere in the world" (his) and wondering if the deal was wise. However: "I'm not going to sit here and run down Barclays bank," he said. That's because, "Barclays is and remains a great British brand," a "proud" and an "historic" one no less. Moreover, although Libor-fixers should "have their collars felt," London's financial services, "will continue to be important in a global economy, whatever reforms take place." | |
| Fair enough so far. But the nebulous realm of "reputational damage" counts less for me than value for money and, connected with that, the question of when the sponsorship tail starts wagging the policy dog. "Barclays," proclaimed the Mayor, has "saved Londoners about £50 million" through its sponsorship of cycle hire and superhighways. The key word in that assertion is "about." | Fair enough so far. But the nebulous realm of "reputational damage" counts less for me than value for money and, connected with that, the question of when the sponsorship tail starts wagging the policy dog. "Barclays," proclaimed the Mayor, has "saved Londoners about £50 million" through its sponsorship of cycle hire and superhighways. The key word in that assertion is "about." |
| As in the past the Mayor appeared at best unclear about how much money Barclays has and eventually will transfer to London's savings account in return for his inviting it to carpet brand its streets. This lack of clarity appears built in to the democratic process itself. Labour's John Biggs, who chairs the London Assembly's budget and performance committee that looked into Johnsonian sponsorship deals with Transport for London, put it to the Mayor that Barclays has already profited handsomely whereas London has undersold itself. | As in the past the Mayor appeared at best unclear about how much money Barclays has and eventually will transfer to London's savings account in return for his inviting it to carpet brand its streets. This lack of clarity appears built in to the democratic process itself. Labour's John Biggs, who chairs the London Assembly's budget and performance committee that looked into Johnsonian sponsorship deals with Transport for London, put it to the Mayor that Barclays has already profited handsomely whereas London has undersold itself. |
| "That may or may not be the case," acknowledged the Mayor, then went off on his fallback riff about how no-one else was knocking down the cycle hire door. Biggs disputed this and said that a copy of the big, fat TfL-Barclays contract he'd eventually extracted was "98%" redacted. "Publicly we have no idea of what that contract says. I'd ask you to agree that that is a pretty scandalous situation." | |
| The Mayor did not oblige, but said, "I will do my best," to provide a bit more detail. Perhaps he's unaware that he'd already done this back in March in a written answer to Lib Dem Caroline Pidgeon: | The Mayor did not oblige, but said, "I will do my best," to provide a bit more detail. Perhaps he's unaware that he'd already done this back in March in a written answer to Lib Dem Caroline Pidgeon: |
| Barclays sponsorship is worth up to £50m to 2018. | Barclays sponsorship is worth up to £50m to 2018. |
| So for "about £50m" read "up to" £50m by 2018 if we're lucky. Bank charges too high? Where have we heard that one before? The other side of the balance sheet is that TfL has spend a good £200m on the scheme so far, much of which had previously been earmarked for enlarging the regular cycle lane network across the whole of London. Given that the cycle hire scheme is largely used by commuters as an almost free alternative to the bus or Tube - but not to the motor car - it's fair to ask if TfL's limited funds have been put to the best use under the auspices of the "cycling mayor." | So for "about £50m" read "up to" £50m by 2018 if we're lucky. Bank charges too high? Where have we heard that one before? The other side of the balance sheet is that TfL has spend a good £200m on the scheme so far, much of which had previously been earmarked for enlarging the regular cycle lane network across the whole of London. Given that the cycle hire scheme is largely used by commuters as an almost free alternative to the bus or Tube - but not to the motor car - it's fair to ask if TfL's limited funds have been put to the best use under the auspices of the "cycling mayor." |
| We might build a similar case in relation to the (ahem) Emirates Air-Line, the name by which few will refer to the cable car. But that's for another day. As for Bob Diamond, Biggs asked the Mayor if he's spoke with him during the past week. "I don't discuss private conversations, I don't see any reasons why I should," he retorted, rather touchily. Bet he has. | We might build a similar case in relation to the (ahem) Emirates Air-Line, the name by which few will refer to the cable car. But that's for another day. As for Bob Diamond, Biggs asked the Mayor if he's spoke with him during the past week. "I don't discuss private conversations, I don't see any reasons why I should," he retorted, rather touchily. Bet he has. |