Jeremy Cliffe is a modern languages undergraduate at Oxford and a convenor for Compass:
"As Mayor I will be a champion for all London business", Boris Johnson wrote in his 2008 manifesto, adding that "[London's] success is not just powered from the glittering citadels in the square mile". From his choice of priorities since taking office, one might be forgiven for thinking otherwise: financial services represent 17.1% of London's output, yet some have criticised the Mayor for displaying an insufficient commitment to the remaining 82.9% of the London economy.
It's pure polemic, but smartly argued and well researched. Now read on.
Update, 09:39 For some reason that I don't understand the link above to Cliffe's article isn't working (see first comment below). Apologies for that. I've just looked at the article again - it's on the Tory Stories site - so it definitely still exists! In the circumstances, perhaps I'd better reproduce the whole of the rest of it here. It continues:
Johnson, it is said, "wants to support the super-rich and leave the vulnerable to struggle."
In September 2008, as the government injected billions into the banks to prevent wholesale economic collapse, Johnson railed pre-emptively against 'vindictive' regulation and 'neo-socialist claptrap', telling people to stop "whingeing [...] about house prices boosted by City bonuses".
In April 2009 he described the 50% top rate of tax as a 'gimmick', in September he called EU regulation of private equity and hedge funds "a naked piece of commercial warfare by France and Germany upon the City of London", in October he used his conference speech to attack 'banker bashers' and in December he broke ranks from his own party to oppose the government's 50% bonus tax. When challenged to suggest an alternative to the tax he replied "Well I think that [the bankers] should have shown much greater self-restraint. What kind of impost, what kind of tax you come up with, I don't know." The Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman has described Johnson's analysis of the financial crisis as 'economically illiterate'.
Interestingly, Johnson has received substantial sums of money from financial organisations and wealthy individuals. A 2009 study by the Party of European Socialists found that private equity and hedge funds donated 77% of his 2008 campaign budget (much of which he failed to declare). The paper also revealed that in the first half of 2009 46% of all individual donations to the Conservative Party (£3.26 million) came from managers in the hedge fund and private equity industries.
Elsewhere, Johnson has been accused of neglecting other sectors of the London economy. In March 2009, nineteen leading figures from London's retail, tourism and cultural sectors wrote to the Mayor to express disappointment at his response to the recession. This came after he had abolished London Unlimited (established under Ken Livingstone to promote London internationally) and cut the budget of Visit London to help cover the £50 million of annual revenue forfeited by cancelling the £25 congestion charge for 'gas guzzlers' and the £70 million lost by halving the congestion zone.
Boris Johnson's response to the financial crisis therefore seems to belie the varied make-up of the London economy, craven to those 'glittering citadels' that bankrolled his mayoral campaign.
Will solve the link mystery later if I can.
