The Metropolitan Police Authority meets on the 22nd November to discuss Sir Ian Blair’s case; they cannot be left uninformed.
This body consists of members from the London Assembly, magistrates, and “independent members”. Their details are here. The balance is as follows – 7 Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, who can be expected to vote no confidence in Blair out of partisanship. There are 5 Labour members, including Deputy Mayor Nicky Gavron and MPA Chair Len Duvall, all of whom can be expected to back him. There is Green Jenny Jones, who has gone public supporting Blair. Anti-hierarchical ecofeminism, right?
Then there are 9 independent and magistrates; out of these, Cindy Butts is an ex-researcher to the Economic Sec of the Treasury and therefore must be considered a Government vote, and Richard Sumray is an Olympic bid official and therefore is also captured. Considering the certainties, the vote breaks 50-50.
Then there is Faith Boardman, who is an independent member, ex-Lambeth Council CEO; i.e. probably Labour, and anyway as the former head of the CSA she cannot be expected to oppose public incompetence. 9-7 to Killer of the Yard.
Now we have Aneeta Prem (07958 737491. media@aneeta.com), Rachel Whittaker, Peter Herbert, Karim Murji, John Roberts, Kirsten Hearn, Reshard Auladi, and that titan of statesmanship Damian Hockney, the “One London” man and ex-UKIPper.
We need to get 2 more votes than t’othersiders out of this group. Hockney has gone public supporting Blair, but with him anything is possible. Assuming he votes with the Government, they have a 3 vote lead; we need to get 6 of the remaining indies on board to fire the fucker. I want a full-dress blogswarm on this; think of the Iraqi employees’ campaign and square it. In fact, think of Josh Marshall’s US social security drive.