Dawn Butler is set to announce her London mayoral campaign this Wednesday, according to PoliticsJOE’s Ava Evans. Sadiq Khan is still mulling whether to go for a fourth term…
Guido members will have seen this coming. From Guido Whispers on 10th April:
A New Dawn: Speaking of the London mayoralty, Dawn Butler was spotted hanging around near the Green Party HQ earlier this year. There is speculation she was trying to organise some sort of non-aggression pact amongst the left to run for Mayor of London. She denied that she was defecting to the Greens herself. Although a pact that clears the way on her left flank might be a different story…
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Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has told broadcasters this morning he has not decided whether to run for a fourth term. When asked by Sky News and the BBC, Khan said: “Ask me again in a year’s time.” Delay, delay…
As of June last year the line was: “Sadiq hasn’t decided yet if he’s standing again at the next mayoral election… this is the same as the last election cycle when he didn’t announce his decision until much later in the mayoral term.” Khan announced his intention to stand for a third term in January 2022 – 28 months before the election in May 2024. It is now 28 months until the next mayoral election in May 2028. Khan’s self-declared deadline has passed…
Khan is already the only Mayor to serve three terms. Last time he was asked in September he implied he was leaning towards running again. Is he waiting for the offer from some jumped-up UN climate body before he decides…
Sadiq Khan has jetted off to Brazil this week to boast about how clever he is and complain about having “one hand tied behind [his] back” by a Labour government that hasn’t sufficiently backed his green agenda. To prove this point, he has flown around 5,750 miles to Rio de Janeiro, for a total round trip of 11,500 miles…
Ahead of the C40 World Mayors Summit, which Khan is set to co-chair this year, the Mayor of London said:
“I can’t understand how we’ve lost the art and ability to explain to people what we’re doing… [The public] can smell somebody who’s inauthentic. And I think you should be authentic. People respect somebody if you’re authentic. There are people who voted for me in the last mayoral election who may not agree with ULEZ but they respect the fact that I have got good intentions, but I also explained to them why we’re doing the ultra low emissions zone, the fact that in London we’ve got thousands of premature deaths…”
He went on to say the cabinet should be more enthusiastic about net zero and “it can’t just be the Ed Miliband show.“ For an entourage of five, the total greenhouse gas emissions pumped out for this trip will be around 27.7 tonnes…
Keir Starmer has said he believes the ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ chant is antisemitic, putting him directly at odds with the Mayor of London. Who less than a week ago insisted “it was all about context”…
Asked by the Jewish Chronicle today whether he considered the chant antisemitic, however, Starmer said:
“Yes… I take a strong view on this, and we’ve dealt with cases in my own party where people have used that expression and we’ve taken action against them… I’m not just saying it to you here today. That is the history, that is the record that I have as leader of my party.”
Maybe worth having a conversation with Sadiq about all this…
Sadiq Khan has launched an urgent survey asking for feedback on potential policies which could appear in London’s ‘Heat Risk Delivery Plan’. One option on offer to City Hall respondents is “flexible working hours to avoid peak heat times”, even though the building has air conditioning. It’s 27 degrees and cloudy, time to down tools…
A statement at the start of this vital survey says:
“London’s climate is changing, and our summers could get hotter and drier. We’ve already seen heatwaves this summer. And remember the summer of 2022, when temperatures exceeded 40C in London? City Hall is working with partners on a delivery plan to better prepare London for rising temperatures and extreme heat events.”
The full ‘Heat Risk Delivery Plan’ itself will arrive in the spring, ahead of any deadly sunshine Londoners have to suffer through next summer. They’re also laying the groundwork for “public awareness campaigns encouraging people to reduce high heat activities” like driving. No need to make that commute if your boss is letting you enjoy a Cornetto from your sofa…
Back in February Sadiq Khan was loudly fretting over working from home “hollowing out” the capital, warning that London “cannot afford” to become a city where the centre is deserted because of so-called “flexible working.” Naturally he blamed employers and private sector train operators for the trend…
The London mayor urged employers to bring staff back to the office, complaining that fare revenue from TfL was falling because of home workers. If only he practised what he preached…
A new FOI request reveals that the Greater London Authority doesn’t “record staff attendance specifically” and can provide no detail on which staff have turned up to the office in the past two years. Instead, they vaguely claim staff are “expected” to show up two to three days a week, touting their “hybrid working policy” that “seeks to support staff in balancing their work and home life, and that includes the position on remote working.” Khan’s own managing style has led to a revolt from every single London council leader. Can’t be too much fun in the office these days…
Former leader of the SNP in Westminster Ian Blackford told Times Radio why he believes Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that she spent no time in the kitchen and therefore didn’t see any of her husband’s purchases:
“She doesn’t have a passion for cooking.”