Lee Jasper's suspension today will have severe political and emotional implications for Ken Livingstone. He has relied on Jasper as a political and emotional crutch. When he stormed out of this week's GLA budget meeting ranting anf raving, all he could splutter was "get me Lee". Jasper has a svengali like influence over Livingstone. When politicians lose their key ally in situations like this, they tend to become directionless and listless. It will be interesting to see how the Mayor copes without his favourite little playmate.
Perhaps Livingstone will now apologise to Andrew Gilligan and the Evening Standard for his slurs upon them. If it hadn't been for them, Jasper's financial dealings would neve rhave been exposed.
Or perhaps without his right hand he will be less of a t*sser?
ReplyDeleteHe'll just have a wee drinkie to fortify himself.
ReplyDeleteI always thought he was rhyming slang for a ciggie - never realised he was a real person...
ReplyDeleteUnless Jasper is absolutely crooked with loads of numbered notes in his hand and Poor Little Maddy stuffed in his filing cabinet, together with a tattoo on his head that says "I am guilty", the police will do nothing. They are absolutely terrified of being called racists, and failing that, do not want to jepoardise years of arselicking to the black community over a little local difficulty.
ReplyDeleteSharia Law in Action, then?
ReplyDeleteNoticable that the Brown Broadcasting Corporation is extremely slow in reporting this news!
ReplyDelete12:40 still nothing on BBC News Website
I'm afraid the arguments in this post are inverted (although not 'an inverted pyramid of piffle' which apparently means 'entirely true'). The Evening Standard has been insinuating corruption but never took its evidence to the police, because it knew that it really had nothing.
ReplyDeleteKen has called their bluff. He ordered the police to investigate, and so Andrew Gilligan will be forced to defend his story. As his last attempt to allege high profile misdeeds exposed his journalism as poorly researched nonsense, I would not get your hopes up.
But if Jasper is suspended on full pay, surely he can now campaign full-time for Livingstone without violating any GLA rules.
ReplyDeleteCheap campaign finance trick.
(sorry if this gets posted more than once, I keep getting an error page after submitting it)
ReplyDeleteIt's not clear from the tone of the post but it was Livingstone who called in the police, apparently at Jasper's request.
Both of them knew this would require Jasper's suspension from City Hall (though one suspects they'll still be in touch) and presumably thought it was a price worth paying if it could kick the story into the long grass.
I am afraid that Winkled Weasel is right yet again.
ReplyDeleteTo read the main story in the Telegraph and look back at the way the indigenous population has ben treated over the years for 'multiculturism' and the way the likes of Jasper have progressed. Is it any wonder that we now have reached the stage when Black and Muslim 'communities' have to be consulted on any initiative. Yet no one consults the majority.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7246468.stm
ReplyDeleteThere since 12.14pm.
It's hardly damning is it? Jasper himself asked for the matter to be reported to the police so that he could flush out Gilli(e)gan and the "nasty" rag. As a result, Ken suspended him. They won't find anything, because there isn't anything,
just smears.
What does bobthedog use for brains? He comments that it is "Noticable that the Brown Broadcasting Corporation is extremely slow in reporting this news! 12:40 still nothing on BBC News Website"
ReplyDeletebut your story even contains a link to the story posted at 12:14. Not too difficult to find is it?
Tosh Iain, again. Whatever happened to innocent until proven etc? Judge, Jury, Executioner.
ReplyDelete@ David Boothroyd,
ReplyDeleteSo let's get this clear:
You seriously believe that Livingstone and/or Jasper would not have leaped at an opportunity to sue Gilligan and claim mucho damages?
You seriously believe that Livingstone can 'order' the police to do anything? Mind you with his 'interesting' relationship with Ian Blair that might be so.
You seriously believe Gilligan (and his editor and proprietor) will have not made sure he's absolutely cast iron before going to print?
You seriously believe that the job of The Standard is to investigate and provide evidence for the cops? What's wrong with the cops doing their own investigation?
You seriously believe that Livingstone, after spending weeks saying that there are full audit trails etc etc, has somehow decided to do this in the public interest? He's been forced into this position by his own incompetence and complicity. He is, to use the technical term, covering his arse.
You seriously believe there's nothing to investigate? Just read the Mayor's very carefully crafted statements - and then read those of the Assembly members and such MPs as Kate Hoey.
You seriously believe that this is just smears? Livingstone, the arch practitioner of smears, has already branded the damage to the Stephen Lawrence centre as 'racist' - without the slightest evidence. This is a man who has specialised in playing the race card whenever it suits his politics. Where's your particular evidence?
It's going to get very very messy in City Hall. There's loads more to come out yet. This is certainly not about racism. It's about naked and gross corruption. And Livingstone cannot silence them all - much as he might wish and no matter how hard he tries. You ain't seen nothing yet.
Gordon to clarify but neither he nor any of his monkeys have got back to me yet.
ReplyDeleteBOOTHROYD AGAIN!!! Do you never think? Brown said ‘I would like to see all security and intelligence analysis independent of the political process and I have asked the Cabinet Secretary to do that.’ The fact that Gordon Brown asked a civil servant to ensure that in future intelligence reports remain independent from the political process implies that they were not independent before yes ? . Brown’s aspiration that such security analysis should be independent in future and that ‘mistakes were made’ admits that this what happened in the lead-up to the war against Iraq. With me so far ? OK....
Andrew Gilligan was persecuted for saying the same thing .He was hounded out of his job and had his reputation as an award-winning correspondent sullied for having suggested that the government ‘sexed up’ the intelligence information .I`d say Gilligan’s record was an awful lot better than New Labour as Gordon brown has in effect admitted .
Gilligan is still owed an apology
Well, 'Unsworth', I don't normally answer posts like yours but I'll make an exception. I believe the Evening Standard's lawyer would make sure that the allegations were so nebulous as to make it very difficult for Lee Jasper (Ken was only attacked by association) to sue, even if he had the money to do so. The Mayor, being in charge of the LDA, can call in the police to investigate alleged wrongdoing (as indeed can anyone else).
ReplyDeleteI know Andrew Gilligan prints rubbish from all the rubbish he's printed in the past and been found out for. The editor would print anything to attack Ken. If they were seriously exposing wrongdoing they would have gone to the police, but they aren't, which is why they didn't. Ken has called in the police to call their bluff and it will be exposed as a bluff. The LDA is there to help struggling businesses so it's not a surprise that some of them fail. It is just a smear, as you can tell from the fact that the only Labour MP who is at all willing to give this rubbish any consideration is the utterly wayward and maverick Kate Hoey. Name a London Labour MP who thinks there's something in it and isn't President of the Countryside Alliance.
Anons & Chris Paul
ReplyDeleteLivingston has already admitted he lied when he said there was an audit trail. The only defence so far has been that this is a racist attack, which is an absurd and indeed racist accusation. May I invite you into the real world for a moment? It's not very safe, but it beats Labour fantasies.
(oops posted some stray text
ReplyDeleteBOOTHROYD AGAIN!!! Do you never think? Brown said ‘I would like to see all security and intelligence analysis independent of the political process and I have asked the Cabinet Secretary to do that.’ The fact that Gordon Brown asked a civil servant to ensure that in future intelligence reports remain independent from the political process implies that they were not independent before yes ? . Brown’s aspiration that such security analysis should be independent in future and that ‘mistakes were made’ admits that this what happened in the lead-up to the war against Iraq. With me so far ? OK....
Andrew Gilligan was persecuted for saying the same thing .He was hounded out of his job and had his reputation as an award-winning correspondent sullied for having suggested that the government ‘sexed up’ the intelligence information .I`d say Gilligan’s record was an awful lot better than New Labour as Gordon brown has in effect admitted .
Gilligan is still owed an apology. Gilligan is right about Ken.
Everyone knows it
Ken Livingstone will apologise when we see a squadron of pigs flying past a blue moon on the Greek Kalends.
ReplyDeletedavid boothroyd [12.41] You say, "Ken has ... ordered the police to investigate, and so Andrew Gilligan will be forced to defend his story."
ReplyDeleteGood to know that Ken can issue orders to the police. Can he order them not to investigate things as well?
On another point of procedure, I believe it is usually the person being investigated who has to "defend his story". Or has Ken ordered the police to investigate Gilligan?
Oh please! Whether Jasper's guilty or not this is just a ploy by Deadstone to get this off the front page of the Standard (and out of the rest of the MSM) until after the mayoral elections. Unless the "investigation" leaks it'll be silence from now until 2 May.
ReplyDelete@ David Boothroyd,
ReplyDeleteOh do buck up, boy. You really need to get with the program. If Gilligan is capable of being sued the City Hall lawyers would have been getting injunctions and issuing writs weeks ago. Nothing like a nice drop of Damages to increase the bank balance and help with the image, is there? All Livingstone and Jasper had to do was get the legal team onto it. You can bet that the legal guys have advised otherwise - they know when a case is hopeless.
Livingstone doesn't need this in the run-up to his third attempt to con Londoners, does he? And Hoey is 'wayward and maverick'? Hilarious! So far three MPs have put their names to a call for proper investigation - read your newspaper.
If it's 'just a smear' then it's a pretty clever one. Livingstone hasn't extracted himself from the manure for ten weeks now - despite his huge resources and my money.
Still it's so nice that you should deign to personally respond. It has brightened my whole day, if not my whole life.
It's funny only a few weeks ago Livingstone said there was no case to answer,clearly no need then to suspend your best buddy and call the police in,if in fact that's what he's done.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to the Evening Standard for highlighting the missing millions.
No wonder Livingstone keeps on increasing the GLA charge if our money is pissed away so easily.
This is a cunning stunt from Ken.
ReplyDeleteHe avoids having to make further comment, as matter is sub judice.
He implicitly blames Boris for racist hounding of Jasper, who says he himself has asked for the police to be called in to clear his name. [cheaper than suing for defamation and involves no need for public disclosure unless matter come to trial]
Ken appears to be an honourable statesman above the fray.
In a few weeks months time he scrapes a win in the election, thanks to taking largest share of ethnic minority vote. He waits until the police say that it's hard to say exactly what has been going on, but there's not enough evidence against Jasper to take him to court.
Ken invites Jasper back to work and insists on grovelling apologies all round.
If I was Iain, I'd hold back the celebrations for a while yet.
Livingstone reminds me of the last days of Hitler in his bunker, Boris is at the gates of Berlin and Livhitler is losing all around him.
ReplyDeleteHe will be seen in the streets soon talking to people.
My fellow Londoners,please indulge me in full...Memo to ken liarstone,captain of the ill fated 'Titanic gla',stop right now saying the words 'racist' , 'black community' or 'smear', in the context of 'chief burser jasper',its insulting and yet again patronising,get this into your head and grab a life jacket,lee jasper does not represent the black community,-its an outdated idea-given a job by you,he has failed on every level,and when will he come on the radio and fully explain what's gone on,the flawed and failing mayor with jasper have been exposed,-now we have a plot to save jasper- he resigns with a full pension,and no doubt gets another job in local govt,ken liarstone tries to survive,forget it,the band plays on without you,London go forward,not backwards..
ReplyDeletegla candidate jonnie of brixton..
xxx
David Boothroyd said...
ReplyDelete"the only Labour MP who is at all willing to give this rubbish any consideration is the utterly wayward and maverick Kate Hoey"
Kate Hoey is one of the few nulab MPs with a brain. And she's got more balls than most of the rest of them put together. And she's not ugly as sin.