I am not going to attempt to guess what Pensions Minister Steve Webb was thinking yesterday when he was publicly chastised by Boris Johnson during the annual London Older People’s Assembly at City Hall.
Along with a few hundred other people, I sat and watched as Boris demanded to know whether the minister had arrived for the meeting by public transport and then, on ‘discovering’ that he had not, roundly condemned him for it. With that, and few well chosen jokes about Ken Livingstone, Boris was off, leaving Webb to fume alone.
Boris Johnson at another event, with a model of his favourite bus
photo by Jerry Daykin from Wikimedia Commons
Webb opted to stay and face the questions of a lot of active, and in some cases angry, older Londoners. In fairness he did a decent job of it (though he was never asked the question that Lizzie Irons of Citizens Advice later posed: how many older Londoners will have to move when the coalition government’s cap on local housing allowance comes into force next year?). He also announced an ‘Ageing Well’ initiative, which aims to encourage local authorities to share best practice in providing for older people in their communities.
You can read more about the London Older People's Assembly Group at their website.
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