Spending rather a lot of time there, Guido is already thinking ahead to 7 May 2026, when Labour’s control of Westminster City Council could come to an end. The Tories lost control of their flagship London council for the first time since 1965 in 2022…
If the Tories do eventually regain control, Sadiq Khan’s plans to pedestrianise Oxford Street will be met with major opposition by the blue bigwigs that are the Westminster Tories. The Tory group on the council has already put forward a motion to hive off £250,000 to fund a legal challenge to Khan’s plans – but it was voted down this week. Better have a whip-round instead…
Conservative group leader Paul Swaddle said:
“The mayor believes this [scheme] is going to be paid for by private investment, with no supporting details, which leaves businesses fearing it’s going to be a raid through business taxes or Crossrail-style levy. The mayor also intends to raid the neighbourhood community infrastructure levy – money that should be spent on local priorities.”
Looks like Khan’s dream of no cars on Oxford Street may yet be scuppered if the Tories can grab the council back again…
In an exchange at the London Assembly with Green AM Zack Polanski this morning Sadiq Khan provided some more detail on his promised “legal challenge” against the government’s rumoured London airport expansion plans:
“There is no money set aside in the budget based on speculation I’ve seen speculation, in the media about a speech the chancellor may give in a few weeks time. I’ve seen no proposals from Heathrow airport, I’ve seen no plans for a new runway, I’ve seen no announcement from the government. What Londoners know and the government knows is the aviation sector is important for growth, jobs, and prosperity – but we face a climate crisis and a climate emergency…. I’m quite clear – my views on the expansion of Heathrow by a new runway haven’t changed.”
Polanksi accused the mayor of rowing back on his more robust statements to the press this week. Wouldn’t be the first time…
If Khan does end up wanting to oppose the government’s plans on aviation expansion it looks like Londoners would have to pay for it. Unlikely the Treasury would cough up for that one…
City Hall’s standards commissioner has said that Khan is under investigation over October’s Taylor Swift controversy. A GLA spokesman says: “The monitoring officer has reviewed the complaint against the mayor and will not be investigating three of the four allegations. An investigation will now take place to establish if the mayor exercised an appropriate level of caution in deciding to accept the tickets.” Susan Hall initiated proceedings by making a formal complaint after details were revealed in the press…
Khan took free tickets for an August Swift concert and later altered the declaration of their value. The three allegations referred to there relate to a late declaration of the tickets, the factual errors in the initial declaration, and whether there was a live contract with agency LS Events (who supplied them). Khan’s spokesman says “the mayor’s office will continue to ensure all the right processes are followed, and looks forward to explaining the approach that was taken in this instance.” Freebies may not worth it for all the blowback…
London Mayor Sadiq Khan clearly didn’t get the memo from Keir Starmer about supporting and working with the next U.S. President. Instead, Khan rushed to issue a moaning statement on Trump’s win, bleating about how “fearful” Londoners supposedly feel about what the result means for democracy and women’s rights. Khan wailed:
“I know that many Londoners will be anxious about the outcome of the US Presidential election. Many will be fearful about what it will mean for democracy and for women’s rights, or how the result impacts the situation in the Middle East or the fate of Ukraine. Others will be worried about the future of NATO or tackling the climate crisis…The lesson of today is that progress is not inevitable. But asserting our progressive values is more important than ever – re-committing to building a world where racism and hatred is rejected, the fundamental rights of women and girls are upheld, and where we continue to tackle the crisis of climate change head on.”
Leader of City Hall Conservatives Neil Garratt was quick to slam Khan’s insulting statement:
“It’s important to recognise the legitimate winner of a free and fair election, and the peaceful handover of power. These are not things everyone in the world can take for granted, we should not attempt to undermine them.The fact remains that the Mayor’s job is to focus on delivering for London…Londoners will see through him trying to use the American election as a ruse to distract from his own failures in office, including his failure to negotiate a good deal for London with his own Labour government.”
Latest on Labour’s contribution to the “special relationship” as we get it…
Lamé will quit at the end of this month and says she feels it’s “the right time” to “move on”, and that it’s been “a real privilege to serve Londoners”. To fail Londoners for eight years…
In her tenure she has:
A record unmatched…
UPDATE: Guido hears from GLA sources that since returning to work Lamé has been “totally MIA“. Working for London right till the end…
Sadiq Khan has once again jetted off on an eco-jolly, this time ditching the Labour conference early to rub shoulders in New York. Instead of “having fun with my friends in Liverpool”, as he said, he’s chosen the bright lights of the Big Apple to show off his green credentials. Nothing says environmental warrior quite like hopping on a plane across the Atlantic…
So inspiring to visit the Billion Oyster Project in New York today and see how they’re embracing nature to clean up the Hudson River and increase biodiversity.
Re-introducing wildlife such as water voles, eels and otters will help us to restore London’s waterways. pic.twitter.com/xcbDQ1tRIY
— Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) September 24, 2024
Taxpayers will be pleased to hear Khan is enjoying his latest vanity trip, this time involving a boat ride to celebrate… voles and eels – an excursion the Mayor found “so inspiring”. Perhaps less inspiring than the city he left behind, where knife crime involving large blades has doubled in the last five years…
Red Wall Labour backbencher Jonathan Brash told GB News that Starmer should resign:
“I’m completely fed up about it, and I think it’s got to the point now where I genuinely think that, as far as the Prime Minister is concerned, it’s not a case of if, it’s when.”