Interview: Richard Barnes, Deputy Mayor of London

Deputy mayors have been in the news a lot recently.

On Friday Ray Lewis resigned as Deputy Mayor of London amid a welter of allegations about his previous incarnation as a Church of England priest.

While his departure was a blow to Boris Johnson, he has quite a few other deputies.

However, only one of them is the statutory Deputy Mayor, the one mentioned in the legislation that created the post of Mayor of London.

That man is Richard Barnes, who has been out and proud, and fighting, for so long that sometimes it seems he was the original gay Tory.

A Hillingdon borough councillor since 1982 and former council leader, he has served on the London Assembly since its creation in 2000.

After eight years of Ken, he is finally in power and, before last week's Pride parade, he sat down with PinkNews.co.uk to talk about Boris, HIV prevention, and why the terrorist attacks exactly three years ago today showed our city at its most resilient.

PinkNews.co.uk: Congratulations on your appointment. I understand that you are the statutory Mayor, can you explain what that entails?

A statutory Mayor is a legal requirement and should be there if anything untoward happened to the Mayor.

Does that mean you are a heart beat away from being Mayor?

I'm just a little bit further but yeah.

How does that work in terms of influencing the Mayor, do you meet regularly, do you have conversations?

We will meet regularly but obviously during the course of the campaign Boris and I did establish a close rapport and we worked very closely together.

When we were talking about Boris Johnson in November and even in January and February there was this idea that his candidacy was a Tory bit of fun …

I don't believe that.

Well what I was going to say is his majority is sizeable, a considerable vote, did that surprise you having been on the campaign trail with him, or were you expecting it on election night?

Before he was selected I just had that gut feeling that he was that symbol of change that everybody in London wanted and given the way his magnetic celebrity status on the campaign trail people just flocked to him.

I've been out with (former Mayor) Ken and you see people on opposite sides of the street say "oh there's Ken Livingstone."

With Boris they had to get near him, they had to get their photograph taken with him.

They want to be close to him which is that difference between premier division and a full star if you like.

You have been and assembly member since the beginning. What sort of changes did you want to see over those eight years, what changes do you want to see now and what do you think Boris will bring forward?

I would rather look forward than look backward.

But you must have seen an organisation that you thought could be better run?

I thought the organisation has improved since we came into office, that it was dysfunctional, the decision making was channelled through a very small coterie of people.

The professional offices were not allowed to make decisions of their own, they were all referred upwards.

What I believe is that you should trust the offices and professionals that you've put there, that you should allow them to get on and make decisions, clearly ask for checks and balances.

They just got a budget which has been examined and approved. I don't expect them to come back on a monthly basis and say "can I spend part of my budget?"

Boris had a bit of a rough ride from the gay community….

Read the rest of this interview.

The Democratic race explained in under nine minutes

This video is awesome!

David Davis - what the hell is he up to?

The DUP are the undertakers of governments, as Shirley Williams said on Question Time. Very true, a typical blast of common sense from the tenacious peer.

However, yesterday's vote on 42 and the shenanigans around how Gordon won the vote seems like months ago after today's bombshell.

David Davis insists he is resigning from the Shadow Cabinet on a matter of principle. I don't buy it.

Why resign and fight a lone battle against a piece of legislation? Why piss off the leader and abandon the party, steal headlines from them and make the fight against 42 when the Lords are more than likely to kick it out, plus the government bill is unworkable?

And why now? I think this has got a lot more to do with the leadership of the party and not any issues of liberty.

Fighting his case in his own constituency - it is barmy.

And where will the Tories come into all this? Is he official candidate?

Cameron said he was going to campaign for Davis? How will that work?

Its all very confusing, but I think at the end of the day the loser will be Davis. He is out of the Shadow Cabinet - will he ever get back in?

Nice to see one of the Robinsons has some sense

The Iris issue rumbles on - she was on the radio this morning claiming that she only said that gay people could be cured, not they should be.

Her hubby, the First Minister of Northern Ireland, today assured the Assembly that not only does he take his responsibilites seriously with regard to discrimination but he and the missus are fighters against it.

Anyway there are still issues, not least round this idea that people can be "converted" by nutty psychiarists.

It hurts gay people. It gives the impression that they are somehow mentally ill, that they need help.

We don't. Leave us alone.

Iris through the looking glass

Iris Robinson's outburst about how gays just need therapy is interesting - on her first day as the effective First Lady of Northern Ireland, the rib enthusiast (see quote) just popped on Radio Ulster to remake herself as helpful kind of Oprah figure - offering to put gays in touch with a nice doctor who can make them all better.

Here she is on lesbians being allowed near baby making facilities without even having the deceny to bring a gay along so they can pose as a couple for the nice doctor.

"I speak tonight saddened by the approach taken by right hon. and hon. Members who wish to airbrush out the role of fatherhood. I notice that there are many grins on faces, but I stand by my faith and the word of God that man was created in the image of God and that woman was created from the rib of Adam to be his helpmeet and companion. That is the natural progression of procreation."

Well exactly.

Since you've been gone

SO here it is my first blog entry since 19th April.

In that time I have been to Miami, spent the day with schoolkids at Auschwitz, been on BBC Radio Ulster (personal goal ticked off the list - shame my mum wasn't listening!) reported on the election of Boris Johnson as Mayor of London, been to my first PMQ and got to sit in the Press Gallery which was just SO cool (thanks Kevin), talked St Paul's epistles with the only gay bishop in the Anglican communion (only out one obviously. Its faggot central as everyone knows) discussed the psychology of Ann Widdecombe with drunken Labour researchers, listened to London's first gay deputy Mayor relive the experience of his partner dying in his arms, and then be told he was not a 'fit person' to register his death - he went all the way to the Registrar General to have that obscene insult abolished.

I have brooded over getting an interview with David Cameron, then brooded over getting one with Gordon Brown, planned by birthday picnic on Primrose Hill, thought about growing my hair long, had a beautiful dinner with my friend Michael in his new flat, received news that my brother Dominic is a father for a third time, a girl called Megan, found myself agreeing with everything my mother was saying about Tibet, fought a losing battle with Snickers addiction, argued about the ban on gay blood donations with two people who knew a lot more about it than me, had dinner with someone I fully expect to be in the Cabinet in ten years, realised what an brilliant film Minority Report is, interviewed about a million interns and not slept enough.

Clearly no time for blogging - its SO 2007. But we shall keep at it when we find a moment.

Dunwoody's death is a blow for the Commons

I was genuinely upset to hear of the death of Labour MP Gywneth Dunwoody.

Ms Dunwoody, who had been the MP for Crewe and Nantwich since 1974, was chair of the transport select committee and a highly-respected parliamentarian.

She was 77.

The longest serving female MP ever, she first entered Parliament in 1966, representing Exeter. From 1966 to 1970 she sat alongside her then-husband, John Dunwoody, MP for Falmouth. In 1983 she ran for Labour deputy leader on a Euro-sceptic platform, but only attracted 1.3% support.

Ms Dunwoody was one of life's awkward squad, speaking out when she thought her own party was wrong, and her fellow MPs clearly had a lot of time for her.

An attempt in 2001 to remove her from the chair of the transport committee led to an effective rebellion by her colleagues, and the government had to let her take her rightful place.

In committee she was a wonder to behold, making ministers, civil servants and senior transport executives look like ill-prepared chancers.

In the chamber she was an exceptionally effective speaker, but more than that she carried before her respect, from MPs on all sides of the House. They listened to her. They liked her, and she was always good value for money.

The Times summed it up best: "a battleaxe in the best tradition."

I saw her in Parliament just a few weeks ago. She was examining trinkets for sale just outside Central Lobby, and I wanted to go over and speak to her, to say hello, so I could say that I had met her, someone I admire so much.

But I was late for my appointment, and I figured I would get many more chances to meet this formidable woman.

She was one of the only MPs I ever saw who managed to pin down the elusive Tony Blair, forcing him to admit that he had, in effect, no policy on immigration.

While some may breathe a sigh of relief that they will never be on the receiving end of her fearsome questioning, most people who knew her will say that the Commons lost one of its most important MPs this week.

Among the tributes from party leaders and political grandees, the words of her son David were the most touching:

"She was a woman who stood up and said what she believed was true and defended those who did not have many people to defend them. And she stood up for her principles, she was a wonderful woman."

Andrew Pierce's piece about her is outstanding - read it here.