Tim Parker resigns as Boris' First Deputy Mayor

Two weeks ago we wrote this (emphasis added):

"Hope for the future: The team that Boris Johnson is building. It's high calibre. We think of Tim Parker (most of all), Kit Malthouse, Dan Ritterband, Simon Milton, Anthony Browne (soon) and Guto Harri."

So we cannot be as sanguine as Iain Dale in hearing the news that Mr Parker is standing down as Mr Johnson's Number Two.  We understand the change is a friendly one and ConHome was offered a conversation with Mr Parker earlier to confirm that it was. 

But, for all the reasons we expressed at the time of his appointment*, Mr Parker will be hard to replace.

* "In terms of meeting the big challenges we can take a lot of encouragement from Boris Johnson's first moves.  On Thursday the new Mayor of London announced that Tim Parker had been hired as day-to-day chief of City Hall.  Mr Parker has a great record of cost-cutting in both the private and public sectors.  Unsurprisingly, the left doesn't like this inspired appointment.  A record that he'll now bring to London after years in which Ken Livingstone allowed costs and council tax to get out of control." (ToryDiary, 25th May 2008).

Comments

[Mr Angry]

Why has he gone then????

[Al Lane]

Megalomania setting in already with Boris then? But he was elected and Parker was not, so Boris should take ultimate responsibility and the big decisions, especially for transport where he has made expensive election promises, especially for bus services.

[ACT]

Let me get this straight: there are people out there who think Boris is even semi-competent? Are you the same people who actually think Dave's telling the truth about murderous White van Man?

[Sally Roberts]

I think it is absolutely right that Boris takes charge of transport himself - particularly if he's got to face down Crow and the RMT - which I hope he does!

[Dave]

At least this time team Boris have got their story straight. If nothing else, they're getting quite good at managing these loses.

[Comstock]

Not another one!

That explains why the answers to our questions have been delayed!

[Watchdog]

Cripes!

[Dorian Grape]

Inevitably there will be trial and error and re-adjustments given that Boris took over a socialist dictatorship.

A bit like West Germany re-building East Germany but without the shot putting wooden toothed munters and the Stasi.

[London Tory]

Ray Who ? Exactly. Tomorrow it will be Tim Who ?

Only the Man With The Mop is important. He is the Next Tory Prime Minister But One.

[Libertarian]

No amount of spinning can hide the fact that this is a huge embarrassment for the Mayor. There must have been a bust up for Parker to depart so quickly. No doubt he will paid off handsomely, at taxpayers' expense, in exchange for trotting out the agreed line.

Boris's short term has seen the McGrath, Lewis and now`Parker depart. All were key appointments that were overseen by Boris and Nick Boles (as Cameron's and Maude's minder). Boles has lost credibility and should consider his own position.

[Roberts]

Boris as PM !!!! He's doing a poor job as Mayor of London !! Imagine as PM a weekly Cabinet reshuffle! Cameron called Clegg a "joke" ! What utter nonsense - look at your own team Mr C !!

[Libertarian]

The Editor wrote "Parker has a great record of cost-cutting in both the private and public sectors."

Sally Roberts wrote "I think it is absolutely right that Boris takes charge of transport himself - particularly if he's got to face down Crow and the RMT".

Is this a case of Boris being afraid to stand up for taxpayers and deal with the massive inefficiencies at TfL?

Or perhaps Parker has told him that his stupid Routemaster plan is too expensive?Another Boles up!

[Mark Hudson]

To have lost so many key, strategic advisors in such a very short space of time smacks of either rank incompetence or exceptionally bad luck. I have the strangest feeling - looking at Boris - that it's the former.

[Harry Fulton]

.. and to think CH derided Michael Portillo for apparently not voting for Boris.

Portillo's concern was for the Tory Party - if Boris messes things up in London and it affects our national standing then it will be totally unforgiveable (no matter how many moments of 'comic gold' he gives us).

[Adam in London]

What is going on at City Hall?

We seem to be losing key people left, right and centre - and they seem to be the people brought in from outside 'normal' politics. Perhaps there is a lesson in this - being an experienced businessman doesn't necessarily prepare you for running part of the public sector.

To those who see this as clear incompetence - where were your criticisms when Parker was being appointed?

[snegchui]

I would say looking at the composition of the boards of LDA and Tfl gives you the answers for why Mr Parker felt he might not have a credible role to play.

[Dorian Grape]

‘being an experienced businessman doesn't necessarily prepare you for running part of the public sector.’

Adam in London

‘His change of heart prompted speculation that as a member of the private sector used to being in control, he had been frustrated by the public service.’

Times Online. 1 Hour ago.

“Parker himself has always been "Chief Beast" in his jungle and it was clearly not going to operate in that way here.”
GLA Labour Group

So we conclude that the private sector entrepreneurial and profit and loss skillset should not be applied to the public sector? Why on earth not? If the employees refuse to cooperate with the new administration then P45 the lot of them.

Yes, it’s difficult to adapt when one’s brain has been hardwired with politicised numbnuttery by Livingstone but make an attempt GLA EMPLOYEES.

[Libertarian]

Boris is off-message again. Paul Waugh in the Standard writes

"19/08/2008

Boris blows apart Cameron's "Broken Society" claims

You can normally trust Boris to go off-piste on Tory policy, but today's Telegraph piece includes a line that has not yet been spotted - but could give Labour invaluable ammo at the next election.

D Cameron has made great play of his claim that Britain suffers from a "broken society" -caused by family breakdown etc - that is to blame for our rising gun and knife murder rate. Only this week, his book with Dylan Jones claimed that he could transform Britain socially just as Thatcher transformed it economically.

But today Boris ridicules the whole message of his leader, pointing out that the success of the Olympic youngsters disproves the claim. Here's what he says:

"If you believe the politicians, we have a broken society, in which the courage and morals of young people have been sapped by welfarism and poltiical correctness. And if you look at what is happening in the Beijing Olympics you can see what piffle that is."

CCHQ will not be amused....."

http://waugh.standard.co.uk/2008/08/boris-blows-apa.html

You could not make it up. Boris is telling Camerloons to get lost. It's the Bullingdon Bust-up!!

[Lindsay Jenkins]

Any true democrat would have a problem as mayor of London.

As Dorian Grape says @13.42 it is an elected dictatorship. No wonder Boris is in a quandary.

The post should not exist but there is no Conservative government to remove it. Indeed would a Cameron-led government do so? Will bringing democracy back to London be in the next manifesto?

[Goldie]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I know Boris, and Boris isn't suitable to be the mayor of London.

Hopefully the next GE will come before that sinks in with the wider public...

[Bullingdon Bumbuster]

BBC London are pointing to a hissy slapfest involving Parker and Sir Simon Milton over the title "Head of Policy".......

[Malcolm Dunn]

Goldie, you've been proved to be wrong about most things what makes this any different?

[David Sergeant]

Somebody should suggest to Libertarian that he reads the whole article. And then read Osborne's report. If someone had said this would be the state of the nation in eleven years in 1997 they would assume it was being made up.

[Yet Another Anon]

If you believe the politicians, we have a broken society, in which the courage and morals of young people have been sapped by welfarism and poltiical correctness. And if you look at what is happening in the Beijing Olympics you can see what piffle that is.
It's bizzare how much importance people put in a relatively small number of people engaged in sporting activities - vast sums of public money are spent on it, vast amount of media time is spent on it, politicians talk about putting money in to help British players win at the Olympics and for what? A bigger level of PSBR and a small number of people from this country get to go on a bit of trip and maybe get some shiny medals.

[Treacle]

I agree with Malcolm (!)

Which bit of 'It's a transition team' didn't the posters here understand?

Getting up to speed in a new Administration is a different skill set to the daily grind of seeing policies through.

Boris will be fine 'cos he passionately believes in the job and has the determination to carry it out.

[Libertarian]

Tim Parker was a permanent appointment, not a member of the transition team as treacle suggests. He was Nick Boles's replacement. Treacle is as thick as his name suggests!

[Telegraph hack]

What a surprise--NOT. BJ likes to leverage people to get where he wants to go. They don't always like it as much.

[Justine Brown]

The disgusting waste of money at City Hall really sickens me. Why appoint people that you then have to give a vast pay off to? This is starting to look careless.

It really annoys me at the moment, because those who need public money don't get it, yet so much is wasted elsewhere.

I had a situation back in May when I really needed help. I went to the dentist to have some impressions done for crowns and dentures. I was in the chair biting into this huge gluey impression stuff, and it set, and they couldn't get it off.
I tried my best to communicate (couldn't talk) but they said they were so booked up with NHS appointments, I'd have to come back to get it fixed. So I had to go out into the street with it stuck, and suffer the humiliation.

[M Dowding]

Teething troubles, no more.
The "piffle" business is however disgraceful and unacceptable.
I suggest DC and Co. are a bloody sight more attuned to the real world than Boris. Has Boris read or noticed the Duncan-Smith report? My support for The mayor has plummeted over this and I begin to see why doubts existed. Boris, you were elected The Conservative Mayor of London, Livingslime was The Labour candidate. Looks as though the job is for renegade twats and sod the electorate.

[tory loyalist]

"Piffle"? isn't that what he said when he lied about the affair with Petronella... "an inverted pyramid of piffle"?

[snegchui]

Has Tim Parker been paid off? That is not my understanding. He was on a nominal salary of the £1. How does this translate into a big payoff? And he is staying amicably as an advisor?
I do miss things as they fly by ever so fast but on this one I would appreciate the patronising filling-in. If it is not forthcoming, well, well.

[James Wright]

Boris Johnson isn't ready for prime time. How many seconds did he think about attacking Cameron's broken society theme? Probably about a quarter of a second: significantly less than he would have spent thinking about the 5k he gets paid for writing for the Telegraph while Mayor.

I wouldn't imagine he spent much longer thinking that Tim Parker could chair TfL.

[Matt]

Completely useless.

[Norm Brainer]

@Justine Brown, you seem to come out with this teeth story to claim money is being spent wrongly to suggest that they should be spending more.

The other time I saw it you were complaining about "all these abortions" (which I thought you had to pay towards anyway) but say the state should look after the resultant disabled child.
Here you're complaing about a guy who was on a £1 salary quitting - yes, it'll save them a pound, but would probably require more than that to replace him.

...or are you being sarchastic and I've just fell for it?

I was watching the interview with the guy on the politics show and it did seem like he'd gone in there with very good intentions to make London a better place, but I expect has been shocked by the political wranglings and just wanted out - A good deed never goes unpunished etc.

[Bullingdonian]

Bumbling fool.

[Jack]

Maybe it's because I'm a bumble-er...

[white van man]

WHY is anyone remotely surprised?

[apologist]

Doesn't Nick Boles have to come out now to apologise? Or is he going to let Boris clean up his own mess this time around?

[Treacle]

Well, thanks for your kind words Libertarian.

I tell you what, you go on thinking that a bloke who does the job for a £1 nominal salary is a permanent appointment and the rest of us will stay on this planet.

From the tone of most of the posts above the opposition are displaying the traditional righteous anger of those who never voted for us anyway.

[passing leftie]

Is anyone surprised? You were thoroughly warned before you appointed him. Remember, you said that we should watch Boris to get an idea of what Tories in power will do.