Mayor of London Boris Johnson was in front of assembly members today for the last Mayor's Question Time before the election.
The meeting was heavy on transport matters, the public gallery packed with black cab drivers waiting to hear the Mayor being put under pressure over an increase in the number of illegal taxi touts and the rise of Uber. Also on the agenda was a series of questions and suggestions about how to prevent a repeat of the problems faced by commuters at London Bridge station.
Matters got underway with Boris recognising the large constituency of cabbies in the audience in typically provocative manner:
Boris to audience. "If you hate cyclists clap your hands." Loud applause. Boris: "Well I don't" #mqt
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) March 25, 2015
Funding for the controversial Garden Bridge was again high on the agenda with the Mayor defending criticism from Lib Dems and Labour over the decision to channel TfL budget into the proposal:
Garden Bridge does not stack up. Mayor is effectively offering a guarantee for all maintenance. This is not right. Waste of Transport money. — Caroline Pidgeon (@CarolinePidgeon) March 25, 2015
.@JohnBiggsAM about to criticise @MayorofLondon for misleading Londoners 'up the garden bridge' wasting transport money without transparency
— Valerie Shawcross (@ValShawcross) March 25, 2015
Boris responded:
#MQT Boris: "We are determined not to pay more than £30m" towards Garden Bridge — London SE1 (@se1) March 25, 2015
And on the subject of bridges, a number of assembly members raised the transport shambles at London Bridge, including Labour's Valerie Shawcross:
.@ValShawcross pushes Mayor for rail services to be devolved to City Hall to improve services for Londoners #MayorsQuestionTime — CityHallLabour (@CityHallLabour) March 25, 2015
Boris responded:
Boris Johnson says he has had "abundant meetings" with transport secretary and Network Rail re London Bridge rail chaos #mqt
— London SE1 (@se1) March 25, 2015
Boris: No clear political accountability re London Bridge chaos. If it happened at a TfL stn "my ass would be grass unless we fixed it" #mqt
— London SE1 (@se1) March 25, 2015
London Bridge Station: "There was frankly a cock-up" says Boris Johnson at #mqt — London SE1 (@se1) March 25, 2015
Shawcross stuck to the transport theme, moving on to ask what he plans to do about the reported rise in the number of taxi touts, and generating widespread approval from the gallery for taking an anti-Uber stance:
Valerie Shawcross gaining very favourable reaction from the audience talking about taking a strong stance to touting amongst cabbies #MQT — James Robinson (@JvmesJournalist) March 25, 2015
Boris: 'Taxi drivers are going to be around long after Uber. We need to protect and support them.' #MQT — James Robinson (@JvmesJournalist) March 25, 2015
Assembly Lib Dem leader Caroline Pidgeon was also heavily supportive of the cabbies, eliciting this response:
"@CarolinePidgeon for Mayor" shouts a cabbie from the public gallery....! #mqt — Stephen Knight AM (@StephenKnight1) March 25, 2015
Then it was the turn of Labour's Andrew Dismore to quiz the Mayor on cuts to the Met, and specifically, a reduction in the number of officers in Barnet.
.@Andrew_Dismore to Boris - w/ police numbers falling & crime up in Barnet is it any wonder people are dissatisfied? #MayorsQuestionTime — CityHallLabour (@CityHallLabour) March 25, 2015
Boris responded:
Boris: 'How many beans are there in a tin of baked beans?' Response to questions about number of police officers in Barnet #MQT — James Robinson (@JvmesJournalist) March 25, 2015
and then:
Boris Johnson his normal bombastic self and now comparing @Andrew_Dismore to baked beans rather than answering the question #mqt — Fiona Twycross (@fionatwycross) March 25, 2015
A line of serious questioning about the poor cleanliness of the air in London was interrupted (on Twitter, not in the chamber) in splendid coincidence, with this:
@MayorofLondon Boris to replace #TopGear @JeremyClarkson ? — Andrew Lowe (@Andyloweuk) March 25, 2015
Which seems like a neat place to leave it. As Tom Copley put it:
Well that's the final #MQT before #GE2015 over. With 4 AMs and the Mayor standing to be MPs it'll be a little different when we come back
— Tom Copley (@tomcopley) March 25, 2015