'Mayor owes Londoners an apology' - Mike Tuffrey

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 8th Sep 2009

Mike Tuffrey, Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, commenting on the publication of the London Assembly report into expenses and use of corporate credit cards by mayoral appointees said:

"The report rightly sets out a number of areas were procedures and processes can be further improved. These changes must be implemented quickly.

"However the fact remains that between April and June Boris Johnson had personal responsibility for signing off Ian Clement's expenses. During this time the Mayor's staff knew the corporate card was being misused for personal items.

"The Mayor says his staff did not inform him, neither did he bother to raise any questions about conduct at City Hall, despite the raging storm about MPs' expenses at that time.

"At the very least the Mayor owes an apology to Londoners for failing to fulfil his central election pledge to 'Restore trust in how City Hall spends our money'1."

Ends

Notes to Editors

Before the 2008 Mayoral election Boris Johnson published a manifesto titled Making London's Mayor Accountable. One of the three key pledges was to 'Restore Trust in How City Hall Spends Our Money': http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2009/04/27/complete_accountability.pdf