"MAYOR'S FOREIGN JUNKETS STILL LACK JUSTIFICATION"- TUFFREY

2.43.49pm GMT Wed 14th Mar 2007

Commenting on today's hearing in the London Assembly at which the Mayor's directors were invited to justify his travel expenses, Liberal Democrat Leader on the London Assembly, Mike Tuffrey, said:

"The Mayor and his officers are desperately trying to retrofit some form of justification to his ever-growing foreign trips. It has become increasingly clear that there was never a clear plan or strategy to his trips but more worryingly that there are few identifiable benefits for Londoners.

'The costs of the Mayor's foreign trips have increased tenfold in the last year, but sadly the return our capital is getting out of it has not. The truth is that Ken Livingstone is suffering from the typical syndromes of an arrogant second term president: he risks neglecting both the domestic priorities Londoners care about and good relations with countries that matter to London, in favour of self-promotion."