Crossrail was never important enough to attract Boris's attention
Tom Harris MP Thu Jun 05, 2008 at 05:07:10 PM GMT 
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The Mayor of London is worried that government the government isn’t committed to Crossrail. This is absurd on two important levels. First: it’s absolutely committed, and there’s no reason to conclude otherwise. The Crossrail Bill is making good progress through Parliament and should get Royal Assent soon.
Second, and more importantly, Boris never supported Crossrail as an MP.
According to The Public Whip, Boris didn’t vote on the Crossrail Bill when it was first presented to the Commons in July 2005. And on the many occasions since, where I have had to pilot the Bill through its Commons stages - at two “additional provisions” debates, public bill committee sessions and Report and Third reading - Boris didn’t turn up. Not once. Never, on a single occasion in the Commons, did Bojo ever express an opinion, or vote one way or the other, on the most important infrastructure project that London has seen for generations.
Perhaps he was too busy to concern himself with such trivialities. Whatever the reason, it undermines his claim that he had a long-term ambition to be Mayor of London. Boris is not stupid; he would have known that a strong commitment to Crossrail could only have helped his mayoral bid. The fact that he never showed an interest in such an important project confirms he had no notion at all of standing before ‘Dave’ went on bended knee.
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Crossrail was never important enough to attract Boris's attention | 6 comments (6 topical)
Crossrail was never important enough to attract Boris's attention | 6 comments (6 topical)
