I WIll Survive...With A Little Help From My Friends

Nothing to do with Gloria Gaynor. Or the Beatles.

But everything to do with the career of Ian Blair, the Chief Constable of the Metropolitan Police.

Genetically, he is no relation to a former Prime Minister. Politically, they could be identical twin brothers. And Labour, having seen one Blair go, isn't go to see another one go. If it takes an abuse of democracy to keep him in his job, then an abuse of democracy is what will be done.

When Labour came to power in May 1997, it had some ideas to renew local democracy. One of these was to look west across the Atlantic, and look at directly-elected mayors, arguing that if New York, or Chicago, or San Francisco etc. had directly-elected mayors, then why shouldn't the scheme be rolled out in Britain, starting with London?

This introduced an idea which was alien to the British system, as normally the Executive is drawn from the Legislature, e.g. a Parliament is elected, and from the result a Government is formed; a council is elected, and from the result an administration is formed. At a local level, there would be the elections to the council, and one (or more) parties would have over half the seats on the council, and would choose a Council Leader.

The London system separated out the Executive and Legislature. There are direct elections for the Mayor of London (by the Supplementary Vote system- a reduced version of the Alternative Vote) and separate elections to the Greater London Assembly (by the Additional Members System).

One thing which at first seems odd, if you have grown up used to the British system, is that different parties can control the two parts. The June 2004 elections saw Labour hold the mayoralty (Ken Livingstone), while the Conservatives were the largest party on the Assembly. The first elections, in May 2000, were odder, as Labour became the largest party, and Livingstone was elected Mayor- but as an Independent.

As I'll come to later, Labour have an interesting and highly flexible understanding of the term "Independent" when it refers to a politician.

In the past few days, the Assembly- that is, London's representatives- passed a no-confidence motion in Blair. Although this is not legally binding. The only organisation that can actually do this is the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA). The Assembly chooses 12 of its members to sit on the MPA:

• 4 from Labour (Len Duvall, Nicky Gavron, Jennette Arnold, Joanne McCartney)
• 4 from the Conservatives (Tony Arbour, Richard Barnes, Bob Neill, Elizabeth Howlett)
• 2 from the Liberal Democrats (Graham Tope, Dee Doocey)
• 1 from the Greens (Jenny Jones)
• 1 from the One London Party (Damian Hockney)

Duvall is the Chair of the MPA.

Gavron has been Deputy Mayor of London since June 2004 (a post she held from May 2000 to May 2003).

Neill is MP for Bromley & Chislehurst.

Tope is a member of the House of Lords, and was Liberal MP for Sutton & Cheam from a December 1972 by-election until the February 1974 General Election.

Jones was Deputy Mayor of London from May 2003 to June 2004.

When the MPA voted, the split was on party lines. 7 of the Assembly members on the MPA (Conservative, Liberal Democrat, One London) voted that Blair should go, whereas the other 5 (Labour, Green) voted for him to carry on.

So, among the elected members of the MPA there was a majority saying that Blair must resign.

As well as the elected members, there are 11 "Independent" (in the Labour sense of the term) members, appointed by the Home Secretary, and who can be removed by her at any time. Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, is a strong supporter of Blair, and so, if you are an appointed member of the MPA and want to remain an appointed member of the MPA, it is very sensible to vote as Smith wants.

Now, on to how Labour defines "Independent". If you are a member of the Conservatives, or the Liberal Democrats, or indeed, any party other than Labour, then you cannot be an "independent".

2 of the 11 Independents are members of the Labour party. One of them is Toby Harris. Not only is he a Labour member of the House of Lords, but between 2000 and 2004, he was a member of the Assembly, and in that capacity a member of the MPA. He lost his Assembly seat to the Conservatives, and David Blunkett, at the time the Home Secretary, promptly put him back on the MPA as an "independent".

Out of the Independents, 10 voted to keep Blair on (I'm surprised only 10 did) and 1 abstained.

So, Blair remains Chief Constable by 15 votes to 7, with 1 abstention, and the will of London's elected representatives has been frustrated.

Although, the Home Secretary can sack Blair and appoint a replacement. And I suggest that at the next General Election, the Conservatives should make this a maifesto commitment, and that one of the actions that the Home Secretary in that Government performs in their first hour in office is just that.