Accusations that Boris Johnson has been making misleading claims about the success of a youth crime initiative have rattled the Mayor so much, he called the Head of the UK Statistics Authority "a Labour stooge".
Said head, Sir Michael Scholar, wrote to the Home Affairs Select Committee casting serious doubt on Johnson's claims for Feltham Young Offenders' Institution's Heron Unit (we covered the full back story a few weeks ago: in a nutshell, Boris claimed the reoffending rate had been cut from 80% to less than 20%, but was using figures that everyone involved was saying were from too early a stage to be used in public).
Labour AM Joanne McCartney queried this at Mayor's Question Time yesterday, prompting the extraordinary outburst. Sir Michael Scholar has, in fact, served under Tory and Labour governments, was once Private Secretary to Margaret Thatcher and, in his position as head of the country's independent statistics body, is described by Ben Goldacre as "pretty unfuckwithable".
Listen, Boris: if you made a mistake the most honourable road is to admit it, apologise and move on, not throw a tantrum. And in case we forget, the last time Boris threw a Labour-blaming hissy-fit was over phone hacking. Look how that turned out.
Photo by richwat2011 from the Londonist Flickr pool
