Tory Assembly Member Brian Coleman refuses to publish his expenses while at the GLA. But will Boris Johnson have the guts to fire him?

Yesterday the full expenses for 24 London Assembly Members were revealed. But one remained – Coleman. He not only refused to publish them but the declared that because Boris asked him to publish them, he wouldn’t! He also said he would not help the “mad, bad and the sad, the bloggers on the internet” by publishing his expenses.

In a statement to the Evening Standard Brian Coleman said:

“I won’t do it voluntarily. It’s none of the public’s business. They have coped well without knowing this kind of detail for more that 75 years.

They are not entitled to drool over our personal lives. I’m not going to help the mad, bad and the sad, the bloggers on the internet. I’m not pandering to mob rule. It undermines democracy to suggest that all MPs, all politicians are the spawn of Beelzebub.

Nobody is going to go into public life if they think the minutiae of their grocery bills are going to be looked over.

Politicians with lower expenses tend to be the politicians who do least work. Those with higher expenses are the ones who do most work.

I’m from the Boris school of anarchist thinking. If somebody tells me to do something, I don’t want to do it.

In response a close ally to Boris Johnson said:

Boris has made it clear from day one that transparency and openness are the heart of his administration.

He is disappointed when any Assembly member doesn’t appreciate that the public rightly expect to know what’s being done by their elected representatives in their name and with their money.

So will Boris have the guts to fire Brian Coleman?

The London mayor is also under fire for cronyism. He is accused of trying to parachute in his policy director, the former journalist Anthony Browne, on to the independent London Development Agency:

the Guardian reported:

Boris Johnson, the London mayor, today faced accusations of creating a possible “conflict of interest” over his decision to place one of his senior aides on the board of the London Development Agency.
…
The LDA is London’s regional development agency and operates under the political leadership of the mayor. It approves or rejects funding for mayoral plans on an independent basis, though the mayor can exercise his powers of directions, in effect overruling the board’s decision.

Adam Bienkov at Tory Troll says:

What does that say about Boris’s commitment to “transparency and openness” and what does that say about his continuing ability to choose the wrong man for the job?

And what’s Brian Coleman’s reaction to all of this? Is he shamed, contrite, or repentant? Don’t be silly.

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1. Liberal Conspiracy

   Article: Tory sticks up two fingers at Boris, amidst cronyism http://bit.ly/18lhMi

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