Boris Johnson: Olympic failure on Black jobs and procurement

In a frank and honest omission, the Conservative party candidate for London Mayor admitted during The Voice newspaper round table discussion that LOCOG had not reached their targets in regards to finding jobs for Black Londoners or procurement contracts for Black businesses.

‘I’m really not happy about this, but I’m sure there are still some procurement opportunities’.

In another related question about Black businesses not being sufficiently financed by the high street banks, Johnson, robust and animated stated that ‘clearly there is a problem across the board with banks being too cautious with their lending. Look! I have defended those banks; therefore I feel I have the right to convene a top level summit with them and Black businesses. I don’t think we should be talking about charity or social corporate responsibility; we have to show them they are missing golden opportunities to support enterprise, which after all is what makes them money. I will spearhead this summit’.

During the discussion Johnson said, ‘I know you will ask me tough questions’. He also stated that he’d listened to the Black community when it comes to ‘Stop and Search’, and that he had been reassured by the new Met Police Commissioner that their approach would radically change from what many see as racial profiling to a more evidence-led policing approach.

Finally, on the question of Black history month, which caused Johnson some embarrassment during the Black Britain Decides debate, Johnson stated, ‘we haven’t cut all the funding, but cuts have been made. I will pledge, however, to help raise 50k to fund events for this years Black history month’.

The Voice and in particular, Sonia Brown has done brilliantly interviewing many of the Mayoral candidates in a very short time span. They, like us were somewhat disappointed that Ken Livingstone could not find the time to be interviewed.

More details on the round table will be on the TheVoiceOnline later today.

Simon Woolley