A junior misnomer…
Boris, it seems, hasn’t read the Greater London Authority Act 1999. It has this to say on the subject of the Deputy Mayor:
49 The Deputy Mayor
(1) There shall be a Deputy Mayor of London (“the Deputy Mayor”).
(2) The Deputy Mayor shall have such functions as may be conferred or imposed upon him by or under this Act or any other enactment, whenever passed or made.
(3) The Deputy Mayor shall be appointed by the Mayor from among the Assembly members.
(4) A person must not hold the offices of Deputy Mayor and Chair of the Assembly at the same time.
(5) If the Mayor appoints as Deputy Mayor the person who is the Chair of the Assembly, a vacancy shall arise in the office of Chair of the Assembly.
(6) Subsections (4) and (5) above apply in relation to the Deputy Chair of the Assembly as they apply in relation to the Chair of the Assembly.
(7) A person appointed Deputy Mayor shall not act in that office unless or until he has satisfied in respect of his office as an Assembly member the requirements of section 28(1) above.
(8) A person shall cease to be the Deputy Mayor if—
(a) he ceases to be an Assembly member;
(b) he at any time gives notice of resignation as the Deputy Mayor to the proper officer of the Authority; or
(c) the Mayor at any time gives him notice terminating his appointment as Deputy Mayor.
(9) A person who ceases to be Deputy Mayor shall be eligible for reappointment.
Emphasis all mine. Note that it highlights that there should be just one Deputy Mayor, and that they must be an Assembly Member.
This, therefore, comes as something of a surprise. Boris today appointed Ray Young Deputy Mayor for Young People. He is neither elected, nor will he be single, if we’re to go by what Boris was saying as early as 2007.
I’ll give Boris the benefit of the doubt here. This is probably a simple misuse of language while he tries to delegate power, rather than a deliberate attempt to break the Act. But even that’s hardly encouraging - demonstrating as it does Boris’ total unfamiliarity with London’s local government. He wants to copy Bloomberg’s tactic of creating high-powered deputy mayors with specific remits, and so bulk ships in portfolios and titles from New York.
That this is incompatible with London’s closest equivalent to a constitutional document hasn’t stopped him. But it should do. He must either adopt Ken’s strategy of unelected, non-Assembly advisers (which, given how much he criticised Livingstone for it, would verge on hypocrisy), work for unelected Deputy Mayors to be included in the Act (which would be a tad undemocratic…) or (I prefer) call for more than one Deputy Mayor to be drawn from the elected Assembly. To do otherwise demonstrates ignorance of how the GLA actually works - perhaps wilful, given that this is public.
(Hat tip: Tory Troll)
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