Some Tories are in a rage about Boris's spot of bother over the Damian Green affair. Gentleman blogger Iain Dale has denounced Labour's Len Duvall, primary cause of the mayor's grief, in most ungentlemanly terms and accused the GLA standards sub-committee, which on Wednesday recommended an internal investigation into the mayor's conduct, of embarking on a politically-motivated witchhunt.
Steady on, sir. The sub-committee meeting was not only a GLA affair. The equivalent Metropolitan Police Authority body was there as well, and it too concluded that there were grounds for taking the matter further. Both parties, as legally required, issued carefully worded "decision notices." These are identical except that the GLA one (pdf) sets out why it believed Johnson was speaking as mayor as well as MPA chair. Even if, for the sake of argument, we disagree with that definition and cite political motivation on the part of the one Lib Dem and two independent members who comprised the sub-committee, the same case is much harder to make against the MPA contingent.
For one thing, there's no question that this was MPA business because Johnson was formally wearing his MPA chair's hat when he made his remarks. As for any accusation of "political motivation", that would be hard to substantiate because the MPA hasn't yet disclosed the names of all those on the sub-committee in question. (And if it turns out, as I was told, it is correct that the very un-leftish Tory AM Richard Tracey was one of them, such an argument would start looking rather thin.)
I've a suspicion that Tory ire over the Boris misconduct charge is driven partly by outrage over the Green saga in general (with which I sympathise to a degree) but also by the private recognition that the mayor put his foot in his mouth at the very least and Duvall has played a rather skillful game. There's satisfaction in the Labour camp that an investigation will take place and with the widespread media coverage, including in the Telegraph as well as the Guardian.
Johnson's statement "welcomed" the fact that the complaint is still being dealt with in-house rather than by the more powerful Standards Board for England (which famously once suspended Ken Livingstone for four weeks.) But GLA sanctions can range from requiring an apology to a three-month suspension. Investigators can "require" those complained against to give assistance (fun-seekers are directed to section 14.4b). A decision won't be reached before 4th March and it remains technically possible for the Standards Board to become involved.
I wouldn't bet on Boris ending up with more than a slap on the wrist. But he could do without this inconvenience, still less the possible embarrassment. He's gone a good way towards losing the "blundering Boris" tag and would surely prefer that it were not re-attached.
