Just caught up with this angle on the Wadley cronyism affair from Tom at Boris Watch:
In fact this does all look rather half-hearted, as if Boris knew, unhappily, that he was expected to sort Veronica out with something but really didn't like the way it looked. He must have been somewhat relieved to find that there was a simple way out which could both show Veronica that he'd tried, but would stop before she actually got the job and people asked questions.
Could he be on to something there? Now read on.
