On 2 Jun, 18:35, Mr Thant
wrote:

On 2 Jun, 18:15, "Paul Scott" wrote:

Not being a reader of the Standard and the various freesheets found in
London, was there much/any coverage of his comments at the time?

Yes:http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...480878-details...

It'll be interesting what Boris says about this.


Indeed - especially as Brian Cooke's pre-election statement was
actually released *through* Boris Johnson's campaign.

See this MayorWatch piece:
http://www.mayorwatch.co.uk/article_id-1583.html

It would appear that BoJo's campaign team realised this might not be
right, as they apparently removed it from the official backboris.com
website later that day according to a blog entry on the Livingstone
campaign website which (for the record) said this:

http://www.kenlivingstone.com/blog/b...r_freedom_pass
quote
[...]
In a new twist, Johnson's campaign team have tried to cover up the
truth by removing Brian Cooke's comments from their website. But you
can still read the staggering comments in the press release - it's now
posted on Ken's campaign website here.
/quote

The link on the above page leads to a PDF of Cooke's statement,
replete with a 'Conservatives - Back Boris' logo.


However *do* take a look at this MayorWatch article from the end of
February...
http://www.mayorwatch.co.uk/article_id-1398.html

....which concerns an apparent a 'mix-up' over whether Brian Cooke was
attending the launch of Boris Johnson's transport manifesto as a
supporter of Boris - as the Johnson campaign had initially publicised
- or as they later clarified, having been questioned by Mayorwatch,
"in an impartial capacity". At the time a London Travelwatch
spokesperson stated Cooke was going along "as a representative of
transport users, and is not endorsing the candidate" - interesting,
given what Cooke did two months later.

The fact that Boris Johnson's campaign embraced and seemingly
encouraged Mr Cooke's support - even after the February confusion -
does somewhat indicate that they didn't have an appreciation of the
role of the Chairman of London Travelwatch, just like it seems Mr
Cooke didn't either. Mr Cooke might plead political naivety (not that
I think this is any excuse whatsoever), but that isn't really a
defence that the Johnson campaign can use - if they do, they would
merely be admitting the fact that they weren't clued up on this.

A scan through of the relevant agenda paperwork certainly appears to
demonstrate quite forcefully that the Committee's dismissal of Mr
Cooke's was driven by his breaking the rules, rather than as a
partisan act of revenge.

As Mr Thant says, it'll be interesting to hear what Boris says.
Perhaps nothing? One hopes he won't pull some ludicrous move like
giving Mr Cooke a job.