• Question by: Brian Coleman
• Meeting date: 27 July 2000

I am grateful to the Mayor for that answer. I have also been grateful for the support of Nicky Gavron, the Deputy Mayor, who has made comments to go out to our local press in North London against this application. As Ken was the last line of defence for residents of Finchley against the arrogance of the local Council on this, I am sure he would be delighted to know that I propose that the building is indeed named after him as a lasting memorial.

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 27 July 2000

Can I just say Mr Mayor, wouldn't you agree that perhaps working out the basis of how the Assembly might vote on the say so of what the Party Whips tell you their Members might or might not do, is a rather ingenious way of doing business and one that perhaps I would be surprised to hear coming from you of all people. But secondly, will you perhaps agree that it follows on from what you said, and I welcome one point that you said, that generally this authority should be extremely sparing in the use of the call in...

• Question by: Nicky Gavron
• Meeting date: 27 July 2000

I just want to clarify in response to Brian Coleman. What I actually pointed out, I think it was at an Assembly meeting, was that there were policy issues connected with Tally Ho Corner that needed to be looked at in relation to that application, to do with the height of the building, to do with the carparking and to do with whether it had any affordable housing element. I would like to ask a question at this point of the Mayor and say if you are prepared to move as quickly as possible in conjunction with me on creating...

• Question by: Lynne Featherstone
• Meeting date: 27 July 2000

In a sense you have articulated my fear that this is the way of subverting what was intended in the legislation. I wonder if you might consider then persuading them to let Assembly members attend even if they are not actually on the Board because the move to have Assembly members actually on the Sub-Boards or Business Boards is another circumvention of the legislation. There needs to be a clear separation of powers and therefore I think it is legitimate not to have Assembly members on Business Boards but perhaps they should have a right to attend.

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 27 July 2000

Mr Mayor that seems to me to be lower than the size of the Cabinet which is currently continuing to grow. Are we not in danger with the way that you keep adding people with new interests to the Cabinet and the way that it appears to be boring, jargon ridden, irrelevant, and pointless to Londoners that the audience is actually going to continue to shrink and you will be able to put the Cabinet in the public seats and the audience around the table if it carries on like this.

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 27 July 2000

Well thank you for that. I shall certainly be taking it up with the Members of the MPA. Part of the reason for my tabling the question here was so that it could be ventilated publicly because it is an issue of great concern in the Borough of Bexley. I had hoped the Chair of the MPA was going to be here to hear it but he seems temporarily not to be with us. But I will write to him as far as that is concerned. But would you agree that it cannot be a satisfactory state of allocation of...

• Question by: Graham Tope
• Meeting date: 27 July 2000

Are you aware that according to a recent parliamentary answer, around 250 senior employees of London Transport have a car as part of their remuneration package? Is it your intention to encourage this practice or bring it to an end?

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 27 July 2000

I just wonder if you could tell us how you are going to measure Mr Wetzel's performance and what targets he will need to achieve to have been a success in the job so that we can all learn and see if he is as good as you make out?

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 27 July 2000

Thank you. You told me in an answer to a question I asked you much earlier this morning that you admired Mr Wetzel's sense of humour. Which must be good. I think it is the most expensive sense of humour since Bob Hope looking at the answer to this question.

• Question by: Brian Coleman
• Meeting date: 27 July 2000

One other qualification that Dave Wetzel has is he happened to sign your nomination papers as Mayor and he is about to be expelled from the Labour Party for his pains. His more recent qualifications in business have been running an antique shop in Devon and a restaurant in Brentford. Can you understand that perhaps there is a suspicion in some people's minds that you might be laying yourself open by appointing so close a political associate to a job at public expense, that you might be laying yourself open perhaps to accusations of jobs for the boys.