3 days ago
ANDREW PIERCE: Londoners have the Tube, Sadiq Khan has a gravy train
London may be riddled with crime, soaring prices and poor-quality transport – but at least Mayor Sadiq Khan and his officials can enjoy the finer things in life.
Latest figures reveal City Hall racked up a £2billion expenses bill in the past financial year.
This includes a jaw-dropping £4.6million on printing, £805,000 on hotel accommodation and £57,000 on photography. Then there's the £48,000 spent on postage and another £31,000 for European and domestic flights.
The Mayor himself also received tickets worth almost £8,000 to football matches and Taylor Swift concerts (he was last month cleared of wrongdoing in relation to the gifts).
And, not to be outdone, his aides have cashed in to the tune of £11,000 with tickets to Glastonbury, the Brit Awards and the UEFA Champions League football finals.
Nice work if you can get it...
In the Spring Statement, Rachel Reeves announced the formation of the Defence Growth Board to oversee investment in our Armed Forces. Five months later, how many times has it met? Not once. Yet more window-dressing from a Chancellor woefully out of her depth.
Cotswolds locals weren't the only Britons amazed by Mr Vance's 24-vehicle entourage during his trip to Britain. BBC grandee John Simpson tells how the late Queen Elizabeth would travel around Britain by train. 'She and her companions would have four seats in a first-class carriage, plus two more for her detectives, leaving the rest of the carriage for the public,' he notes. '[They] were always stunned to see her with so little security.'
All eyes will be on London's Guildhall on October 13 when Tory big beasts gather for the tenth anniversary dinner of the Margaret Thatcher Centre – dedicated to the legacy of Britain's greatest post-war leader. But there'll be one notable absence – that of party leader Kemi Badenoch, who will be attending a fundraising event elsewhere on the same night.
Lammy's angling is rather fishy...
It seems that David Lammy has never held a fishing rod in his life, to judge from his laughably unconvincing fishing pose with US Vice-President JD Vance.
The Foreign Secretary, whose Tottenham constituency borders the favourite spot of many London anglers, the Walthamstow Wetlands, could have made more of an effort. I doubt his photo opportunity will have hooked their votes.
If Keir Starmer needs advice, he might try Tory MP Esther McVey's words of wisdom. ''Never-here Keir' has clocked up a massive 100,000 air miles in just over a year – more than any prime minister this century – while suffering the steepest drop in approval ratings for any recent election-winning leader,' she says. 'Maybe if Keir spent more time in the UK he might improve his ratings!'
Police minister Dame Diana Johnson advised victims of crime to dial 999 if they're in trouble or '111' for less serious issues. She ought to know 111 is for NHS matters. The police are on 101.
Labour MP Afzal Khan, fired as trade envoy to Turkey, once overdid the henna while dying his hair, giving him alarmingly ginger roots. From the Press seats above, he looked like Rita Hayworth.
