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| Earls Court: Boris, Greenhalgh and the police | Earls Court: Boris, Greenhalgh and the police |
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| The possibility of Stephen Greenhalgh, the man Boris Johnson chose to head his office for policing and crime becoming the subject of a police investigation has, unsurprisingly, attracted lots of media attention. ITV and BBC News in London covered the story and even the Boris-loving Evening Standard reported it after I broke the news on Monday night (he wrote, casually) that the Greater London Authority had referred a complaint about Greenhalgh to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. So, what will happen next? And that, exactly, is the complaint about? | |
| To briefly answer the second question first, the complaint is that during the time when Greenhalgh led the Tory flagship borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, council officers (and others) promised certain residents of two housing estates preferential treatment in the allocation of new, replacement homes nearby if they supported the demolition of their existing ones as part of a large, proposed redevelopment scheme known as the Earls Court project - a project that is meeting substantial opposition, not least from residents of the estates. At the heart of the complaint lies an argument that any such conduct by officers would be illegal. The IPCC's task is to assess that argument and whether it might have force in relation to Stephen Greenhalgh. | To briefly answer the second question first, the complaint is that during the time when Greenhalgh led the Tory flagship borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, council officers (and others) promised certain residents of two housing estates preferential treatment in the allocation of new, replacement homes nearby if they supported the demolition of their existing ones as part of a large, proposed redevelopment scheme known as the Earls Court project - a project that is meeting substantial opposition, not least from residents of the estates. At the heart of the complaint lies an argument that any such conduct by officers would be illegal. The IPCC's task is to assess that argument and whether it might have force in relation to Stephen Greenhalgh. |
| As for the first question - what happens next? - I'm told there's every chance the IPCC won't decide what to until next week, because the file of documentation presented in support of the complaint is pretty large. Once it has completed its deliberations the watchdog will either decide it has no grounds for proceeding further and pass the file back to the GLA, or choose to launch an investigation either by its own, independent, team or by officers from a police service other than the Met, working under IPCC direction. | |
| If there is an investigation the calls for Greenhalgh's suspension or sacking will be deafening and the embarrassment for Mayor Johnson, pretty acute. Johnson might have the bulk of the national media eating eagerly from his hand, but some at least will surely be lured by the story's headline potential: Cops Probe Boris Cop Boss, Shock! | If there is an investigation the calls for Greenhalgh's suspension or sacking will be deafening and the embarrassment for Mayor Johnson, pretty acute. Johnson might have the bulk of the national media eating eagerly from his hand, but some at least will surely be lured by the story's headline potential: Cops Probe Boris Cop Boss, Shock! |
| His covert campaign to lead the Conservative Party will be damaged, with nagging questions about his judgement arising in the minds of Tory MPs whose support will be essential if he's to replace David Cameron - questions that could multiply very rapidly, given the growing list of chums, chancers and cheerleaders he's given jobs to despite their questionable fitness for their tasks. | His covert campaign to lead the Conservative Party will be damaged, with nagging questions about his judgement arising in the minds of Tory MPs whose support will be essential if he's to replace David Cameron - questions that could multiply very rapidly, given the growing list of chums, chancers and cheerleaders he's given jobs to despite their questionable fitness for their tasks. |
| It may be that Johnson has spotted the potential damage to his career plan and begun preparing the ground for distancing that media confection known as "Good old Boris" from any brand-contaminating disclosures. A statement issued the morning after the story appeared began by saying that, "This matter stems from Stephen Greenhalgh's time as leader of Hammersmith and Fulham Council" - nothing to do with us, guv, in other words. | It may be that Johnson has spotted the potential damage to his career plan and begun preparing the ground for distancing that media confection known as "Good old Boris" from any brand-contaminating disclosures. A statement issued the morning after the story appeared began by saying that, "This matter stems from Stephen Greenhalgh's time as leader of Hammersmith and Fulham Council" - nothing to do with us, guv, in other words. |
| What followed was intriguing too: "The matter is the subject of an independent investigation commissioned by the council and carried out by Deloitte's (sic). We understand Mr Greenhalgh is not being investigated as part of this process." | What followed was intriguing too: "The matter is the subject of an independent investigation commissioned by the council and carried out by Deloitte's (sic). We understand Mr Greenhalgh is not being investigated as part of this process." |
| Hold on a minute. "The matter" is indeed being investigated by persons from Deloitte, yet the statement from the mayor's office failed to mention that the Met too is taking an interest in "the matter," and has been since a dossier alleging improper conduct by council officers and others was given to its investigators last autumn - the very same dossier now being considered by the IPCC. | Hold on a minute. "The matter" is indeed being investigated by persons from Deloitte, yet the statement from the mayor's office failed to mention that the Met too is taking an interest in "the matter," and has been since a dossier alleging improper conduct by council officers and others was given to its investigators last autumn - the very same dossier now being considered by the IPCC. |
| It was after the police became involved that the council's chief executive instructed Deloitte to look into the claims. And judging by what Met commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe told the London Assembly yesterday his officers will take a close interest in what the gumshoe accountants conclude. While declining to comment on the Greenhalgh referral specifically, he explained that when allegations of illegality or corruption are made against local government politicians, the police will often seek help from the authority concerned or relevant auditors with ascertaining if a crime might have occurred. | It was after the police became involved that the council's chief executive instructed Deloitte to look into the claims. And judging by what Met commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe told the London Assembly yesterday his officers will take a close interest in what the gumshoe accountants conclude. While declining to comment on the Greenhalgh referral specifically, he explained that when allegations of illegality or corruption are made against local government politicians, the police will often seek help from the authority concerned or relevant auditors with ascertaining if a crime might have occurred. |
| A question arises too over City Hall's saying it understands that Greenhalgh "is not being investigated" by Deloitte. They might be perfectly correct, yet having read the complainant's dossier, as Deloitte's people too will surely have done, I would be rather surprised if the idea of at least dropping Greenhalgh a line had not come up in conversation. And, after all, he not only led the council during the period in which promises of preferential treatment are alleged to have been made, but was - and, presumably, remains - a passionate champion of the Earls Court project who took a close interest in its progress. | A question arises too over City Hall's saying it understands that Greenhalgh "is not being investigated" by Deloitte. They might be perfectly correct, yet having read the complainant's dossier, as Deloitte's people too will surely have done, I would be rather surprised if the idea of at least dropping Greenhalgh a line had not come up in conversation. And, after all, he not only led the council during the period in which promises of preferential treatment are alleged to have been made, but was - and, presumably, remains - a passionate champion of the Earls Court project who took a close interest in its progress. |
| The dossier claims that an "early movers list" (or "VIP list") of estate residents to be given preferential treatment has been drawn up. The council insists that no such preferential treatment has been promised or will take place. Its chief executive has told the leader of the council's opposition Labour group, Stephen Cowan, that he is "satisfied" that "those who saw themselves as having something to gain from the regeneration of their estates did, of their own volition, gather together a set of names of those they believed to be so interested," but said that "any such gathering of names was not solicited by council staff." | The dossier claims that an "early movers list" (or "VIP list") of estate residents to be given preferential treatment has been drawn up. The council insists that no such preferential treatment has been promised or will take place. Its chief executive has told the leader of the council's opposition Labour group, Stephen Cowan, that he is "satisfied" that "those who saw themselves as having something to gain from the regeneration of their estates did, of their own volition, gather together a set of names of those they believed to be so interested," but said that "any such gathering of names was not solicited by council staff." |
| However, estate resident Richard Osband, a former member of a steering group set up by the council for residents who were receptive to its demolition plans, has told me that council officers he worked with "accepted as fact" the existence of a list of residents who would head the queue for the first replacement homes, to be built on the erstwhile Earls Court exhibition centres' car park on Seagrave Road, SW6. The two officers concerned no longer work for Hammersmith and Fulham. | However, estate resident Richard Osband, a former member of a steering group set up by the council for residents who were receptive to its demolition plans, has told me that council officers he worked with "accepted as fact" the existence of a list of residents who would head the queue for the first replacement homes, to be built on the erstwhile Earls Court exhibition centres' car park on Seagrave Road, SW6. The two officers concerned no longer work for Hammersmith and Fulham. |
| Other residents of the estates - the West Kensington and the Gibbs Green - have described to me being made promises of new flats by someone working for the council and being told by a campaigner for Boris Johnson that expressing support for the estates' demolition would ensure him a new home in Seagrave Road. As ever, lots more on this to come - unfortunately for the mayor. | |