LGA Labour Group Issued Monday 14 July

"The appointment of Simon Milton as his Deputy is the latest of Boris's blunders"

Commenting on the announcement that Sir Simon Milton is to become Boris Johnson’s new Deputy, after Ray Lewis's difficult departure, Sir Jeremy Beecham, LGA Labour Leader said:

“Simon Milton has been a capable, eloquent and well-liked Chairman of the LGA, and my Labour colleagues and I wish him well and the best of luck in his new post. He’ll need it.

“The saga of the new Mayor’s first few weeks in office has seen a succession of blunders, culminating in a decision to upgrade Simon from an unpaid adviser to deputy mayor only a fortnight after he was re-elected as LGA chair, a position he now has to relinquish.

“This is not so much a Whitehall Farce as a City Hall Farce. Or it could be seen as a modern version of Boris Godunov, less of a farce, more of a tragedy, at least for London. What’s a nice guy like Simon doing in a set-up like that?”