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• Question by: Eric Ollerenshaw
• Meeting date: 12 June 2002

In the same way as when he is in the swimming pool in Millbank, the Mayor is the Executive Mayor of London. There is no difference. One of the most extraordinary things of this whole argument was when the Mayor was away and John Craig of the BBC was genuinely surprised to see a letter from the Mayor from Australia, as if he'd not known that there was such a thing as email, fax and mobile phone, let alone landline. It's bizarre. I don't know why you think somehow it's not possible to be in touch with somebody.

• Question by: Eric Ollerenshaw
• Meeting date: 12 June 2002

A democratic line of accountability relies on the Mayor appointing somebody, and nobody else is democratically accountable in this organisation? Curious.

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 12 June 2002

Can I stress, the difference is that when the Mayor makes a full delegation of his powers to you, in preference to an elected member of the Authority, he has put you into the situation where it is a legitimate question to ask where politically the person making those decisions is coming from.

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 12 June 2002

Why is it then that the Mayor does seem to have made it very clear that he'd actually rather like to go back inside the Labour Party? Clearly, he is finding it a strain to carry this entire burden without party machine support of any particular party.

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 12 June 2002

Let me put it this way to you. You talked about other mayors elsewhere. Actually, any mayor I can think of - whether they be in Paris where they are drawn from the successful party, or indeed New York where you have either a Republican or a Democrat - they are able to draw on their own party resources and loyalties which are transparent to the people who are then electing the parties. I put it to you that one of the reasons why he couldn't use the services of his Deputy in his absence was precisely because it would...

• Question by: Andrew Pelling
• Meeting date: 12 June 2002

I strongly agree with Mr Fletcher's view that it is not appropriate and not our purpose to enquire into his personal life, but I can't understand either why he feels it necessary to be reticent about his political views when he is acting as the Mayor in the absence of the Mayor himself. Perhaps I can ask a question in a positive fashion. We don't want to be involved in some kind of McCarthyite enquiry about what your political connections are. With your links with Socialist Action, do you feel that the Mayor has benefited from having political advice from...

• Question by: Andrew Pelling
• Meeting date: 12 June 2002

I will respectfully put it to you that if you're acting as the Mayor, it is a matter of interest to Londoners. If they were going to have Mr Livingstone running again in the future, they might like to know whether the person running the shop when he is away is somebody from the far left or from the political mainstream. People can then make their political judgement, whether they want to vote for somebody like that, can't they?

• Question by: Andrew Pelling
• Meeting date: 12 June 2002

Why are you so reticent in talking about the quality of the political advice that you're giving?

• Question by: Brian Coleman
• Meeting date: 12 June 2002

Can I explore the issue of diary management? Yesterday I attended the launch of the "Don"t Choke Britain" campaign in Covent Garden, which I believe the Mayor was expected at and couldn"t attend at the last minute. The Deputy Mayor was certainly expected and the organisers were extremely upset when she failed to appear. I recognise that diary management must be a nightmare, but what's your first priority when setting the Mayor's diary?

• Question by: Victor Anderson
• Meeting date: 12 June 2002

In your opening statement when you set out your responsibilities you said that you have some responsibility for ensuring consistency between the different policies that the Mayor adopts and in ironing out any problems about that consistency. Does that include problems about potential inconsistencies between the draft London Plan and the environmental strategies?