Heavy coverage for London Mayoral candidate Brian Paddick in the Evening Standard today with his call for Lee Jasper, one of Ken Livingstone’s senior advisers, to quit.
Brian headlines a series of people from across different parties calling for Jasper to go following the revelation that a series of emails raises rather a lot of questions over Lee Jasper’s previous denials that he had any close involvement in a series of controversial London Development Agency grants:
This is a very sad day, not just for Lee Jasper but for the black community in London. From the evidence I have seen it appear to me that Mr Jasper’s position is untenable and he should resign.
P.S. Number of grants now subject to police investigation: 6.
P.P.S. Total value of grants criticised in Deloitte report earlier this week for not having proper financial controls: £18.5 million.
P.P.P.S Number of comments from Ken Livingstone admitting there might be something wrong with this state of affairs: 0.
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4 Comments
Just out of interest Mark could you possibly tell we readers the total grants made in the period of the £18.5M with insufficient financial controls? So we can get an idea of the proportion of grants so afflicted.
Perhaps a disclosure of what proportion of the £18.5M grants with insufficient financial controls were adjudged seriously delinquent and which marginally so.
Perhaps a disclosure of what proportion of these grants AND their financial control were directly under Mr Jasper’s control, indirectly under his control, nothing to do with him at all.
And also perhaps any assessment by Deloitte or their peers on other grant giving bodies. Regional DAs, Council’s, other Grant Giving Agencies etc.
I know very little about the LDA or about Jasper – though I’ve seen him speak a couple of times – but it seems to me that you, the Standard, silly-man Gilligan, and the rest of the media are providing a wholly inadequate amount of reliable information.
This is a witch hunt. Jasper may be a witch for all I know. But let’s have it right. If you’re going after him don’t just go for the smear approach.
We’re all agreed are we not that that’s wrong?
Thomas Jefferson felt a “revolution” was necessary every twenty years…each generation
I am a young black male in my early 20’s. I am disgusted that every time a black man is given a position of power they always seem to abuse it for their own personal profit!
I mean, I have no doubt that when Lee Jasper started out, he probably started for a good cause (as most of them do) but many temptations are dangled in front of our faces as black people trying to help one another! A lot of these so called 100 Great Black Britons are sell outs in this respect. And when I say sell outs I don’t mean ‘bargainers’ as opposed to ‘challengers’. I mean they forget about the whole reason why they started and they jump on any agenda given to them by the Establishment! Our young people are wising up! In future it won’t be as easy to discredit positive black people that want to make a difference!
A revolution is starting, no matter what colour, creed or religion you are, you know what is morally right and wrong! You know that for things to get better there needs to be a change!
The conservatives know a revolution is coming.
As politically insulated as many of our youth are these days, the sheer volume and magnitude of mistakes and failures of the Conservative Party have nevertheless become glaringly obvious to most of them, and they can’t help but see how deeply and negatively they’ve been impacted by the Tories agenda.
I don’t know whether Lee Jasper is guilty or not, and I don’t care because it’s too late. If he is guilty, more fool him, and he’s exactly the type of person we don’t need speaking for us and representing our views.
What I do know is Boris Johnson and a lot of Tories are constantly making racist comments and thus they can in no way fairly represent London of today, maybe back in the 70’s/80’s where National Front ruled most of Enfield and anyone of an ethnic minority couldn’t walk the streets without fearing for their safety, but not today!!!!
I know there is now way Boris can win the mayoral election because if he does there will be chaos much worse than the Brixton riots.
Black communities have been building a strong foundation for race equality and black community civic and political involvement in London and with one swift move the Tories can undo all of this. Racism must not be allowed to drop down the agenda!!! As a society we have come along way but there are still people out there who have a problem with racism and with those who value diversity.
Our government institutions have become mired in corruption. They both collude and are beholden to business interests that place profit above loyalty and ethics. A voter and generational revolution is overdue!
Otherwise a much worse, and likely bloody, revolution will result somewhere down the line!!!
It should be the hope of every generation of British people to conduct their own peaceful revolution, seeking to avoid or forestall the necessity of a violent one!
This is the world today – multi-racial and full of hope for a better future against all odds. In order to solve the many problems, we need a leader who can help us get there. The country has gone downwards, “ruled” over by the same old faces, same old ideas for the last decades. We need hope and new ideas, not Boris Johnson who will recycle the tired Tories agenda!
Yes indeed Yung Black. That’s why you will be voting for Brian Paddick, right?
Chris Paul, £18.5m may be insignificant in terms of the LDA budget (or it may not, I don’t know) but surely it is more relevant to consider how significant it is for Lee Jasper? I agree that only those funds he had direct responsibility or control for should be considered, but the % of overall LDA budget seems irrelevant.
And, from what I know, an awful lot of public expenditure has awful controls. Otherwise less of it would end up with ‘consultants’ like KPMG, PwC, etc. Not to mention ‘outsource’ firms like Crapita (Private Eye passim). Not to mention the permanent qualification of the EU’s own accounts (i.e. the auditors don’t believe them!)