Livingstone urged to answer aide allegations
Ken Livingstone has been urged to appear before the London Assembly to answer questions of impropriety and cronyism directed at a former aid.
Lee Jasper, the mayor’s former chief race adviser, resigned as his senior aide last night after fresh allegations about the misuse of funds.
The Evening Standard revealed Mr Jasper sent inappropriately flirtatious emails to a woman linked with two organisations receiving funding from the mayor.
Mr Jasper had been due to appear before the assembly today to answer separate questions about misuse of public funds, following months of accusatory headlines.
Boris Johnson, Mr Livingstone’s closest rival in the London mayoral race, said the mayor must now answer for his aide’s conduct.
Mr Johnson said Mr Livingstone had “repeatedly said he is directly responsible for the actions of his advisers”.
“He should take Jasper’s place tomorrow and answer the questions that Jasper won’t,” the Conservative MP said.
“Otherwise, Londoners can only conclude he is arrogant and out of touch. Londoners deserve to know where their hard-earned cash has gone.”
Brian Paddick, the Liberal Democrat candidate for London mayor, said the resignation raised “serious questions about the mayor’s judgement”.
Mr Livingstone has defended Mr Jasper, although it is reported both men agreed the slew of negative headlines emanating from the Evening Standard were damaging his re-election campaign.
The mayor said the newspaper’s campaign had been “absolutely disgraceful,” while Mr Jasper branded it “racist”.
Mr Livingstone said he would “bet my own life” that a police investigation would clear Mr Jasper and said he “will reappoint him when they do”.
In his resignation letter, Mr Jasper said: “It has become clear that a number of matters which are not of first importance in London are being used to distract from the crucial questions in the election campaign.
“The racist nature of a relentless media campaign and the consequent effects on myself and family have placed an intolerable strain on all of us.”
The Evening Standard has denied any suggestion of racism and maintains it was only seeking transparency on the spending of public money.
Yesterday the paper published emails allegedly sent from Mr Jasper to Karen Chouhan, secretary of the 1990 Trust which later received £65,000 from City Hall.
The newspaper has raised previous concerns about money paid from the London Development Agency to black organisations across the capital.
