Following an ill-timed interview with the BBC, Londoners have been reminded of the existence of the capital’s underwhelming ‘night czar.’ Amy Lamé has a claim to being Sadiq Khan’s worst mistake in office, having presided over a disastrous decline in London’s nightlife since taking up the post in 2016. Since then, her pay has been hiked by a whopping 40 per cent, with Mr S revealing last year that her annual salary is now almost £117,000. Talk about money well spent.
Lamé’s re-emergence this week has sparked a campaign on social media, with Londoners sharing their #LameLondon snaps to highlight her failures in the job. And if things weren’t bad enough, the Tories are now calling for an investigation into Lamé’s social media conduct, following concerns that the City Hall employee has breached rules on political impartiality.
Writing on Twitter/X last month, Lamé decried the ‘threat’ to ‘liberal values’ in this election year, declaring that: ‘It is entirely possible we could see Donald Trump in the White House, Suella Braverman in Number 10, and Susan Hall in City Hall.’ It sparked a letter from Neil Garratt AM, Leader of the GLA Conservatives to Mary Harpley, Chief Officer at the GLA, demanding an investigation into a possible breach of the rules on ‘political neutrality.’ Garratt wrote:
Ms Lamé’s social media post actively advocates voting a sitting London Assembly Member in the upcoming GLA elections, as well as heavily conflating Assembly Member Hall with Donald Trump and other external political actors. In doing so, Ms Lamé has violated political neutrality rules and has undermined the business of the London Assembly itself.
Lamé has form on this: when she was appointed as night czar in 2016 she was forced to delete a number of controversial tweets about Tory politicians, even writing letters of apology to six of London’s Tory boroughs. One might have thought Khan would have picked a less controversial candidate – but then again the Labour party hasn’t appeared too fond of doing its due diligence as of late.
After Steerpike went to the Greater London Authority for comment, Lamé deleted the tweet. Surprise, surprise. A spokesperson for the GLA told Mr S: ‘A letter has been received and will be considered and responded to in due course.’ Don’t hold your breath folks…
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