Our revelation that £1.6 million of public money is being used to pay off the eight closest advisers of the former mayor, Ken Livingstone, is a scandal. The eight aides, including his chief of staff and head of PR, were all political appointees on fixedterm contracts.
They were given their positions under the GLA act, which states that they must lose their jobs when the mayor loses his. These payments were made possible because Mr Livingstone changed the rules for the employment of political staff last October through a little-noticed written report to the Assembly in which he gave them redundancy rights after two years. They claim, therefore, that under employment law they are entitled to sue for unfair dismissal. Faced with the possibility of legal action, the current Mayor, Boris Johnson, is giving them payoffs on the same basis as normal civil servants. Indeed the irony is that their compensation for losing their jobs, at around £200,000 each, is significantly greater than Mr Livingstone's own resettlement allowance of up to £90,000.
Obviously, ordinary public servants are entitled to such compensation - but people whose purpose was to serve the interests of the Mayor? This is quite unjustifiable. The eight individuals concerned received generous annual salaries of around £120,000. Losing their positions when Mr Livingstone lost the election was precisely what political appointees can expect.
It is regrettable that the legal advice which Mr Johnson has been given discourages him from disputing these unjustifiable payoffs in the courts.
