| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Reply | |
| Posted by: | Simon Hayes | |
| Date/Time: | 14/06/19 17:47:00 |
| Boris will be bad for Britain. I had the dubious privilege of interviewing Mr Johnson when he was Mayor of London. Not a pleasant experience. He was evasive, blustering and often tried to steer the conversation away from the issues. He got particularly cross when I tackled him about the cable car across the Thames, which at the time was still in the planning stage. Most interested parties I spoke to had said they thought it was a poor idea and didn’t add up as a business plan. There were other transport solutions in east London that would have benefitted from the investment used on the cable car. When I brought this up Mr Johnson got very cross indeed and started shouting at me very loudly from about two feet away. He wanted to know who had suggested it was a bad idea (as a former journalist he should have known better than to ask for sources) and blustered on about how it would be a brilliant success and, of course, it would be privately funded. He was really aggressive and nasty, obviously a nerve was touched. Fast forward a few years and the cable car is running but barely anyone uses it other than tourists. It’s massively subsided by the taxpayer, despite the Emirates Airline sponsorship, and the other river crossings desperately needed in east London remain unbuilt. He’d actually pulled the plug on a number of schemes Ken Livingstone had started, only to claim some years later that he would be bringing them back (which never happened). Of course the one river crossing he did kick start was the ill-fated Garden Bridge, and we all know how that swallowed £45m of our cash without a thing to show for it. He’s a dangerous man but many people are fooled by his breezy public persona. Frankly, he lacks all credibility as a politician. |