Unlike me, Martin Hoscik followed the whole of yesterday's Mayor's Question Time. He writes:
Visitors to City Hall were treated to yet another sighting of Red Boris. So red in fact was Boris today that predecessor Ken Livingstone, sitting once more in the public gallery, looked pale and colourless by comparison.
Martin documents Mayor Johnson-Guevara defending Labour MPA members' right to question him about police numbers, taking a firm line against corporate tax evasion, declining to commit to a further council tax precept freeze, saying he'd defended concessionary travel fares for older and child Londoners against a hawkish Treasury and, notably, sticking to his "Kosovo" position on housing benefit reform. I quote:
It's common ground, not just here [in City Hall], but with most sensible government ministers that what you don't want to see in London is a transformation into a city resembling Paris, where effectively only the affluent few can live in certain areas and the rest are moved, gradually or not, to other areas. That is not what we want to see in this city.
His questioner on this issue, Len Duvall, expressed scepticism about the mitigating measures Boris says he's successfully pressing the government about. My jury's out on that one too, while doubts about his new "milking landlords" defence on HB remain.
Even so, the Tory Mayor now consistently occupies a "caring Conservative" centre ground part of the political spectrum. Yesterday's proud announcement about the private sector firms committing to the London Living Wage is a further example. It all underlines the big question Livingstone needs to begin answering soon. Exactly how would he do any better?
Martin Hoscik's full report is here. Read other Top London Bloggers here.
