Further to my earlier post anticipating today's MQT, I direct you to the following from Helene Mulholland:
Boris Johnson will today face renewed calls to sack a disgraced Tory councillor as deputy chair of London's fire authority. The Tory mayor has allowed Bertha Joseph to stay in her £19,000 post on the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LEFPA) despite her losing an appeal earlier this month against a six-month suspension at Brent borough council.
Joseph was censured for bringing her office into disrepute after spending £900 of charity donations to buy ball gowns and failing to properly register donations. Under Schedule 28 of the GLA Act 1999, the mayor can terminate an appointment "if he is satisfied that the member is unable or unfit for any reason to discharge his functions as a member".
But, in a stance that appears at odds with David Cameron's efforts to portray the Conservative party as spearheading the drive to "clean up politics", the mayor of London insisted earlier this month that there was "nothing to prevent" Joseph continuing in her role at the fire authority. Johnson is set to be challenged over his decision at a monthly question time session in City Hall today by members of the Labour group assembly.
