Lee Jasper

Just had an interesting conversation with some people on Twitter, including that legend in his own lunchtime, Mr Lee Jasper, former advisor to Ken Livingstone the equally former and wholly unlamented Mayor of London.

Here’s how it all started out. A Tweeter called Ed Burke, picked up on a claim made by Lee Jasper that he was helping to supervise London’s Emergency Response teams on 7/7 and added ‘where were you’.

“Ed Burke @iamedburke

Where to start Lee Jasper Equalities Policy Advisor was ‘helping supervise’ London’s emergency services on 7/7. “

This was in response to what looks like an earlier Tweet from Lee Jasper @LeeJasper which said:

“ was in London’s command and control HQ helping supervise London’s emergency response teams and reassuring the public. #7/7WhereWereYou?”

My response to this was to think ‘are you sure Mr Jasper’? My second action was to do a quick websearch for Lee Jasper’s bio. The Wikipedia page did indeed state that Mr Jasper was ‘Director for Policing and Equalities “ at the Greater London Authority during Ken Livingstone’s term between 2004 – 2008. However this search also revealed that his work wasn’t involving any involvement in operational policing or development of police policy, his job was in the main to do with ‘equalities’. It was at worst, disingenuous, and at best mistaken.

I contacted Lee Jasper on Twitter and pointed out that he wasn’t involved in operational policing or development of police policy and his role was primarily equalities. I called him out on occupying a ‘non-job’ position involving equalities and not policing to which Lee Jasper replied:

“@LeeJasper @Fahrenheit211 @iamedburke I know its difficult for you a black man in senior position such as the Policing Director for London.”

Note well that Lee Jasper makes an error with his title, leaving out the ‘equalities’ word, and also uses the definitive ‘the’ which has the effect of making him look a little more important than he really is. His proper title, and proper titles are important, was ‘Director for Policing and Equalities’, with the emphasis on ‘equalities’.

He didn’t really like me challenging his narrative and tried to infer that I was ‘racist’ by stating that I could not comprhend or tolerate a Black man in a position of authority. He also tried to suggest that Iwas targetiing him by asking if I’d challenged anybody else’s actions on 7/7 and asked whether powerful Black people disturb me. To this I replied:

@Fahrenheit211 Not disturbing at all. I’ve worked in different places and have had many black guv’nors and colleagues, some good,some bad, but none of them have erroneously claimed to be some sort of Great Police Panjandrum during a major terrorist outrage. You may not have lied, but you put an over-emphasis on the ‘policing’ side of your role when in

reality your main responsibilities were in equalities. “

There were lots of people who carried out acts of bravery and compassion on 7/7, but it is stretching it a bit to claim that a mere ‘equalities advisor’ was helping to direct emergency services and reassure people from the Emergency Control Room.

Rather than admit that he was wrong to emphasise the ‘policing’ part of his title Lee Jasper then went into full ‘toys out of the pram’ mode and said:

“hahahahahahahahahahah hahahahahahahahahah breathes hahahahahahahahahah . Nice one. “

When I challenged him about the information on him from Wiki.

And

“I know its difficult for you son. I got 99 problems but having to lie about my role in 7?& aint one. “

And

“Pathetic you must be ex old bill. “ (I’m not, I’m ex-lots of things but I’m not ex old bill)

before concluding with

“ Obv you’re some unfulfilled inadequate prat with a half arsed agenda. My work is a matter of public record. “

What Mr Jasper fails to recall is that some of his work has had some question marks over it in the past. See this from Wiki (please note that this Wiki does link to published and indeed sue-able sources ie the Evening Standard, if Mr Jasper wished to act legally against them he could have done)

The wiki entry on Lee Jasper said:

“Lee Jasper was appointed as Director for Policing and Equalities during Ken Livingstone‘s 2004–2008 term as Mayor of London. He was responsible for the development, enactment and promotion of equalities policies for the Greater London Authority (GLA) and had corporate responsibility for the development and delivery of anti discriminatory policies aimed at ensuring equality in employment practices and service delivery. He was also directly responsible for advising the Mayor on policing issues. He secured level 5 for the GLA, the highest level available for the Local Government Equality Standard; only a handful of public sector organisations have achieved this distinction.[citation needed]

Due to his role in the Greater London Authority, he played an important part at the European Social Forum hosted by the GLA in London in 2004. This caused some controversy, as there was disruption at the anti-racist session of the Forum. His strong criticisms of the disruption[13] were in turn condemned by a small number of hard left wing groups as stifling dissent.[14]

Funding controversy[edit]

In late 2007, the Evening Standard levelled a series of accusation at Lee Jasper of cronyism and corruption.[15] Mayor Ken Livingstone suspended Jasper while investigations were subsequently carried out, but always maintained a belief in Jasper’s innocence, stating: “I believe this investigation will exonerate Lee Jasper and show this to be a shameful campaign. As the interests of London are best served by putting an end to this malignant political charade I have concluded that a full police investigation is the most authoritative way to end this story once and for all.”[16] Although it was strongly recommended that improvements be made to the GLA’s administrative procedures, Jasper was cleared of misconduct in January 2008 with the GLA asserting that: “The report has been issued today of the review of allegations of LDA corruption and collusion in improperly awarding funds made by the journalist Andrew Gilligan in the Evening Standard in a series of articles in December 2007. The report finds these to be unfounded. The charge of a ‘tide of corruption’ made by London Assembly member Richard Barnes in the Evening Standard on 13 December is therefore also false.”[17]

Jasper resigned on 4 March 2008 after the Evening Standard said Jasper had sent e-mails of an intimate nature to a woman involved with organisations who had received Greater London Authority grants and that Jasper has not declared the relationship. An Authority spokesman said, “Lee Jasper has stated that in light of material published today that he has tendered his resignation.”[18] Scotland Yardfound that Jasper had “no criminal case to answer”.[19]

A GLA spokeswoman said: “The record of the GLA in dealing with racism in London has been outstanding. […] The GLA is an exemplary authority achieving national recognition in the country in regard to equality and procurement. Lee Jasper played a leading role in regard to these, and no evidence has been presented for the criminal allegations presented by the Evening Standard.”[19]

Boris Johnson launched an extensive Forensic Audit Panel investigation to examine in detail all aspects of Jasper’s decisions and actions while in office. That committee reported in July 2008 that Jasper had acted at all times within his remit as a Mayoral adviser, although the panel did express concern about two members of his staff responsible for the Carnival Showcase.[20]

The most recent report, which was produced after a forensic 18-month independent investigation by the law firm DLA Piper and commissioned by the London Development Agency, examined all the fraud and corruption allegations made by the Evening Standard London newspaper. The report published in June 2009 concluded that Jasper had not influenced the funding decisions of the LDA and that there was no evidence of fraud or corruption. However, it described Jasper’s involvement in one body to receive funding to be “entirely inappropriate”.[21] According to a BBC report of the investigation, although Mr Haworth-Maden said he found no evidence of fraud or corruption, he called for a number of administrative improvements at the GLA. His report found that Jasper failed to record declared interests to the “standards expected”. He also found that Jasper’s role in approving funding was “inappropriate given his interests” in a number of cases.[22]”

Maybe he’s not bent, but he certainly has been incompetent in not declaring interests and being involved in what could be seen as a conflict of interest.

Lee Jasper aged 47 and roughly one third, has spiraled down the left wing political toilet since resigning his GLA post, and stood for the mad as a box of frogs, and heavily Islamist penetrated, Respect Party’ at a Parliamentary by-election in Croydon North in November 2012. Lee Jasper was such a stunning hit with the voters that he gained only 2.9% of the vote and lost his deposit.

He now is co-chair of the Black Activists Rising Against Cuts group which, according to its blog, appears to be mostly concerned with whining about ‘Islamophobia’ and ‘racism in the media’.

We can only hope that Lee Jasper is finally off of the public payroll, and if not, may that time come soon.

Links

Wiki page on Lee Jasper

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Jasper

The whole conversation can be found via this blog’s Twitter feed @Fahrenheit211

The Black Activists Rising Against Cuts group which Lee Jasper now co-chairs with the equally identity politics obsessed Zia Holbourne

http://blackactivistsrisingagainstcuts.blogspot.co.uk/

Lee Jasper has a habit of losing it on Twitter see this article from Guido Fawkes from 2011

http://order-order.com/2011/07/27/lee-jasper-loses-it-live-online/#_@/bfzvqxQjIXQ_YQ