Ray Lewis is being investigated over claims of fraud and possible sexual ‘misconduct’, but in the meantime will keep his job as unelected Deputy Mayor for Mayor Boris Johnson, who denounced the charges as a witch hunt driven by the political correctness lobby (somehow led by the Church of England, hmm…).
What struck me as familiar though, and it’s something Dave Hill also spotted, is the similarity of the response to Ken Livingstone’s when Lee Jasper was facing his own allegations about improper conduct, giving money to causes he was affiliated with and so on. In fact, the ‘it’s a smear’ defense was used by Livingstone, and also by Lewis, which is astonishing when you think of how Boris Johnson really hammered at Livingstone (or as he unwittingly called him 26,574 times, ‘Leavingsoon’) for how he wouldn’t drop Jasper and insisted he was innocent.
Now the boot is on the other foot Johnson is doing exactly the same thing Livingstone did.
Of course, there are differences. Jasper’s allegations stem from what he did in office, whereas Lewis’ are based on what he did before. However, that makes them no less serious and it’s only because the Johnson Mayoralty is threatening to sue the CoE that the latter withdrew their press release detailing what exactly he is excused of.
I don’t actually know what to think re: the allegations themselves. The fact the woman who lent him £29,000 has said she received it back ‘with interest’ (albeit years and years later) suggests it may be a storm in a teacup, but I believe the really damaging thing for Boris is his refusal to suspend Lewis pending an investigation, and his insistence on it being about political correctness or the ’stifling orthodoxy’. To suggest that Lewis is being targeted because he ‘had the guts’ to work for Boris Johnson, is utterly bizarre.
It’s also yet more evidence of Boris waging a war against concepts of ‘political correctness’, such as dropping the anti-racial message from the RISE festival (which is turned out he had no idea had happened, despite it happening under his name) and pulling out of ‘Mayors for Peace’.
Maybe if Ray Lewis had gone through an elective process to become Deputy Mayor these things would have been investigated, though it is quite surprising they weren’t known to the Conservative Party given how much Boris Johnson and David Cameron have been promoting Ray Lewis, which I’m sure is nothing to do with the fact that he is black, and there are ongoing accusations of racism in the Conservative Party which Cameron and co. are desperate to get rid of.
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