Boris Johnson starts to sort out Gordon's PFI disaster

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www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23831493-boris-ready-to-pull-the-plug-on-disastrous-tube-lin es-deal.do

Well done Boris!

Is he still planning on scrapping the Congestion Charge? No, thought not. He got in on that promise and then realised it was a Really Good Way of Making Money and that Ken Was Right. Oh dear.

How many more of his plans will go the way of his Fantasy Island Airport on the Thames estuary?

The man is not credible.

He didn't promise to scrap the Congestion Charge.

He promised to hold a review on the Western Extension of the Congestion Charge. He did that, and the Western Extension has now gone.

I think Boris Johnson is amazing. I really like how they've managed to make a cartoon 4D. Modern technology is astounding.

Well all his mates live there, don't they

Oh yes, that's right. He scrapped it in Kensington/Chelsea/Fulham. I wonder why?

Yet he has paid for all manner of transport-related costs with the money he has made from the Western Extension CC during his term.

Any news on that airport?

He has also frozen the Mayor's portion of the council tax, which helps every single tax-paying Londoner, for two years running.

And sorting out Gordon's PPP legacy disaster is not easy. Ken never managed it.

Though it should be noted Ken Livingstone agrees with Boris - it was a total mess.

Gordon Brown has secretly added tens of billions to our debt, and found a vehicle in PFI that keeps it off the national balance sheet.

4D?

What is this mysterious 4th dimension Boris operates in?

He has worked very hard to give the impression that he is a bumbling buffoon- in reality, he is a very clever man with precious few principles and hands in the right pockets. He is vile.

"4d is a way of defining the shape of, as well as the location of an object or event at any given time. So the 4 dimensions are length, width, depth and time relative to some start time".

ie he's a bumbling fat oaf.

I wasn't his biggest fan at first but he has shown an aptitude in governing that I did not think he had.

His PFI deal says it all. A responsible and prudent end to Labour mismanagement.

He also got rid of Sir Ian Blair - perhaps the most incompetent Chief of the Met that London has ever had.

He has kept council tax low.

I agree that his estuary airport is bonkers, but airport policy is far outside his remit so I don't let it bother me.

He has also increased the police presence on the Tube and buses hugely. I see them all the time now - they were hardly ever there when Ken was in charge.

It's quite sad. Though they are mainly in "expected" Labour areas.

Overall, Labour does seem to have outperformed in the capital compared to the rest of England.

Apparently ethnic minority voters have been far more loyal to Labour than white voters. This might be part of the reason.

But it is still sad. Conservatives kept council tax low and despite the Johann Hari scare stories, did not destroy local services (except perhaps in Barnet, which they frankly deserve to lose).

If you look at the general election map of London on the Evening Standard site, I don't think there are any massive surprises except maybe Hammersmith, which I was expecting to go Tory. Westminster North probably would have gone blue if Joanna Cash hadn't resigned in controversy, with all the negative "Cameron Cutie" press attention.

www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/politics/article-23831735-conservatives-make-capital-gains-as-inner- london-remains-in-red.do

this is interesting

I was quite amused by all the wailing on here when he got elected, I wondered what people felt about it now

I imagine there are mixed feelings about him

I must say I prefer someone who just says what they think rather than this edit button that politicians all have nowadays. Makes things much more entertaining.

Also interesting to note that the councils which the Tories lost were the ones where they had failed to freeze or cut council tax.

The councils where they kept council tax low were on the whole re-elected.

Overall, the Tories didn't lose too many councillors considering the massive base they started with. Local election results tend to show momentum away from power much sooner than national results.

the PFI legacy is a scandal, especially the way it has been hidden from the statistics

Indeed.

And this is just in London. Imagine all the bad government contracts that Labour has signed over the last 13 years, because they fundamentally don't understand principles of sound business.

Similar renegotiations could save billions and billions of pounds for taxpayers, with zero pain.

I am always surprised that Gordon Brown has managed to escape the level of flak he should be getting for the PFI disaster. Millions were made by legal firms simply on the contracts alone. One day the full extent of his financial mismanagement will be laid bare. The amount of taxpayers' money that man has pissed up the wall is eyewatering. Ken Livingstone was absolutely right to challenge PFI & if Boris is chucking the remnants out now then fair play to him.

I must admit, the fact that Boris Johnson and Bob Crow are in complete agreement makes me slightly nervous...

People just don't know about PFI.

It is shocking.

PFI is an utter disgrace. Every single contract has been utterly ballsed up. My Dad worked very high up in construction and admitted that the public sector cannot negotiate contracts for toffee. He say it is laughable.

Hey, just something else Gordon has decided our grandchildren and great-grandchildren should pay for.

Can't disagree with that. It's the most serious mistake Gordon has made IMO.

HerBeautitude

Not sure I can agree on that, though it is certainly high on the list when it comes to Gordon's catalogue of failure.