News from Labour Matters

The two faces of Boris Johnson on bank bonuses

Boris Johnson’s attempt to be all things to all men seems to have come unstuck over his attitude to bankers bonuses, the New Statesman reports:

The London Evening Standard is today leading with an exclusive: “Cut ‘excessive’ bonuses, Boris Johnson tells bank chiefs“. The London mayor is reported reportedly claiming to be “shocked and baffled” that the banks had failed to acknowledge public outrage over the payouts.

Labour strategists point out that this seems odd from a man who has made a point of defending bankers over the past year, as part of his perennial attempt to pursue his barely disguised rivalry with David Cameron. Odder still, from a man who only last week was demanding a meeting with the Chancellor Alistair Darling to defend high earners. “You have made unilateral changes to taxation that risk damaging London’s competitiveness and its status, alongside New York, as the world’s leading financial services centre,” Johnson wrote to Darling.

Labour MP Karen Buck told Labour Matters:
“The mayor has been shamed into making noises about bankers’ bonuses but his real position is shown by the energy he is spending on demands for no tax on bank bonuses, and opposing the higher top rate of tax. When push comes to shove Boris Johnson is in favour of words not action on bank bonuses.”

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