Back in October 2020, Sadiq Khan famously solved racism by introducing “Let’s Talk About Race” training. Earlier this year it became mandatory in City Hall, with every employee required to complete it to ensure the GLA would be “a committedly anti-racist organisation”. “Our capital’s diversity is its greatest strength, but the makeup of too many organisations, especially at their highest levels, fails to present a true picture of modern London”…

How’s it going? Well, at the Oversight Committee yesterday, GLA Chief Executive Officer was asked about the completion rates of the training. The team with the worst completion rate is… Sadiq Khan’s office.

At the same committee, it was also revealed that the draft diversity and inclusion budget for City Hall is £700,000 for 2023-2024. The total budget for supporting people in food poverty? £400,000.

Having temporarily parked his campaign to crash the housing market, Sadiq Khan was hauled in front of a City Hall hearing this afternoon to defend himself over the sacking of Met Commissioner Cressida Dick. The first time a sitting mayor has ever been formally summonsed…

Perhaps uncomfortably, Sadiq Khan was sat directly beside Tom Winsor, the man who authored the 116-page report that found he had failed to follow due process over Dick’s removal. Khan insisted the report was “biased”, and accused Winsor of deliberately ignoring “facts” owing to his alleged friendship with Dick herself:

The view of me and others is that the process is flawed, the investigation is biased, it ignored many facts. We all know, it is a matter of public record, Sir Tom’s close association with the former commissioner. We all know Sir Tom’s close association with former Home Secretaries…”

Winsor himself wasn’t about to sit there and take it. Pointing both barrels at Sadiq, he blasted back:

“The idea that the facts have been ignored is absurd, particularly because, at a late stage in the process, the mayor’s office provided me with detailed factual material which caused me to revise my report in a number of material respects.”

Winsor also accused Sadiq of a “political ambush” over the sacking. No love lost…

Having already been placed under investigation for prematurely announcing the Elizabeth Line opening date, Sadiq is now under siege for his dodgy maths. The Greater London Assembly’s Oversight Committee has found that the Mayor’s claim that moving City Hall from the South Bank to the Royal Docks in east London would save £61 million over five years was way off – to the tune of around £24 million…

In a letter published today, the committee pointed out that the overall saving would be closer to £37 million, since the landlord of the former HQ had offered a reduced rent that would have reportedly saved £24 million over the same period. Still, a saving is a saving…

Unfortunately the committee also found the GLA splashed £100,000 to hold meetings in the new office before it was even finished. Builders had to pause construction work just to allow the meetings to happen. As Guido revealed at the time, City Hall workers showed up to an unfinished warehouse back in October…

Left-wingers in London will be surprised to hear shenanigans in City Hall have seen the Green Party and LibDems team up with the Conservatives in a battle to reduce Labour’s power. The usual process of deciding committee chairs after the London elections saw Labour demand a disproportionate number – despite winning just 11 out of 25 seats. In response the Greens, LibDems, and Tories ganged up to prevent City Hall’s committees being governed in a way that allowed Sadiq to get off the hook easily. When some socialists talked about a coalition of centre-left parties to game the system, this presumably wasn’t what they meant…

In response, Labour’s group leader Len Duvall has blasted the Greens and LibDems for “getting into bed with the Tories” and “betraying their progressive values”. Labour has now thrown a hissy fit, refusing to take any committee chairmanships, with GLA Tory leader telling Guido:

“It’s disappointing that Labour Members on the London Assembly have abdicated their responsibility to hold the Mayor to account. Instead of agreeing to a fair deal on the Assembly’s committees, ensuring all Londoners’ views are represented, they’ve refused to chair a single one. It’s only been a week since the election, but they’ve already let Londoners down.”

So much for that progressive alliance…

Sadiq Khan is planning an extraordinary move out of the iconic “glass testicle” GLA building by Tower Bridge, to a small GLA-owned conference centre called “The Crystal” out in the docklands. The current GLA building currently costs £11.1m a year in rent, meaning the Mayor would be able to boast “a £55 million over five years” if the move goes ahead. In a statement the Mayor said this morning:

“I’m consulting on plans for the GLA to leave the current City Hall building next year and relocate to The Crystal at the Royal Docks in Newham…”

“…In the current financial context, and with the looming black hole in London’s public finances, it would be negligent not to do so.”

Which is interesting because Khan has ballooned his own staffing budget by £30 million in the last five years. Instead of cutting back his own staff to Boris Johnson’s levels, Khan is planning a move forty minutes out of town. Going to desperate lengths just to keep his expensive PR team…