Big Issue founder says Boris Johnson ‘owes’ him for not standing for London mayor
Big Issue founder Lord Bird says Boris Johnson “owes him” for not standing for London mayor, and he is now calling in the debt from the current Prime Minister to tackle the homeless crisis.
Speaking at Westminster, the campaigning independent peer told how Johnson had “jumped in the air” when he turned down a request by David Cameron to stand for the top job in the capital, as it cleared the way for him to run.
On being elected, Lord Bird said he had been embraced by the Conservative politician, who thanked him for the job.
In return, the peer at the time requested the favour that Johnson “remember the homeless”.
After serving two terms as London Mayor, Johnson returned to Parliament and went on to succeed Theresa May as Prime Minister after she was forced to step down over Brexit.
Lord Bird recounted the story at the end of a debate he had secured into the plight of households faced with the withdrawal of coronavirus support and the rising cost of living.
The crossbench peer told Parliament he was asked by Cameron to run for London mayor “by a circuitous route”.
He said: “When I decided not, a particular gentleman who now runs the Cabinet and is the premier member of the Government, a Boris Johnson, jumped in the air, because I was the last person between him and him becoming the Mayor of London.
“You know if it wasn’t for the Mayor of London he would not be in the position he is now.
“When I saw Johnson immediately after he got elected he came and he put his arms around me… unfortunately there were no witnesses, and he said ‘Thank you John for the job’.
“I said ‘Do me a favour’ and he said what’s that and I said ‘Remember the homeless’.
“I want Boris Johnson now to remember the homeless, but not just the homeless who have manifested themselves on the streets already and in the hostels who are suffering, but the children who are going to come down the road.
“That’s what I want him to address. He owes me and I’m calling it in.”
During the debate, Lord Bird argued a mammoth wartime effort, similar to that which defeated the Nazis, was needed to tackle poverty.
Criticising Government initiatives, he said: “They know how to throw a dog a bone, but they don’t give the whole meal.
“It’s a bit like arriving at a forest fire and getting out your little fire extinguisher.”
He added: “I think we are very very much like we were in 1940 when Winston Churchill had to borrow the future. An enormous amount of future in order to defeat the Nazis.
“Imagine what it would be like if in 1940 we said ‘We can’t do that. We cannot cause future generations to be carrying the debts of us’.”
He said: “But we decided that we would stand and fight. We took them on and we defeated Nazism.
“Now we have to defeat poverty. We can’t pootle around with poverty.”
Responding, Treasury minister Lord Agnew of Oulton said: “Ensuring people have a secure income and a steady income is a matter of utmost importance to us.
“The action we have taken to shield people from the full economic force of the coronavirus over the last 18 months is evidence of this.
“Lord Bird feels the Government has been tinkering with problems. I would respectfully disagree.
“Decisions taken by the Government mean that direct support for the economy has totalled around £400 billion over the last year.
“Much of this has protected the productive capacity of our economy, which in turn provides the ability to support the most vulnerable in our society.”