Ken Livingstone claims Boris Johnson tried to 'pay off' former Evening Standard editor

[oldironside]

"Livingstone said the Johnson's decision to recommend Wadley as Arts Council for London chair was 'quite simply a payoff'. Photograph: Daniel Berehulak/Getty images

Ken Livingstone, the former mayor of London, has accused his successor, Boris Johnson, of trying to "pay off" the former editor of the Evening Standard with a top arts job in the capital in return for its coverage in last year's mayoral election.

This week it emerged that the culture secretary, Ben Bradshaw, had vetoed Johnson's recommendation to install Veronica Wadley as Arts Council for London chair. But the mayor has refused to recommend another candidate for approval, signalling that he is prepared to leave the post open until after the general election, when he hopes a Conservative government would allow Wadley's appointment.

The Standard under her stewardship was seen as playing an instrumental role in Johnson's successful campaign last year, running a number of articles in the run-up to the poll that suggested Livingstone's mayoralty was riddled with cronyism.

"This is quite simply a payoff for the scale of support they provided for Boris in the election," said Livingstone.

"She has no background in the arts. There are lots of Conservatives in London who have."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/oct/09/boris-johnson-ken-livingstone-standard

Ah, allow me to mix my metaphors and say that the Tory new broom will be a breath of fresh air.