Wednesday 1 August 2012

No Business

Ken Livingstone invented from scratch the idea that the Mayor of London ought to be a politician. When the position was first mooted, and indeed for some time after the legislation providing for it had come into effect, it was assumed that it was going to be filled by a showbusiness personality, probably Barbara Windsor.

And now, that has come to pass. The Mayor of London may not be Barbara Windsor. But he is undeniably a showbusiness personality rather than a politician. Oh, well, that office has very limited executive responsibility for anything, since London is still run as it has been ever since the abolition of the GLC, mostly by central government quangos, though with the Borough Councils taking care of the rest when not obliged to contract it out to companies that fund the Conservative Party or the shadowy network of organisations and institutions that make up New Labour In Exile, if not both.

The position of Prime Minister, however, is not like that at all.

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