Greater London Authority Bill

The noble Baroness, Lady Valentine, referred to Mayors becoming tired. Well, MPs become tired, Prime Ministers become tired, councillors become tired, all elected people become tired. I want to know why should this apply to the Mayor. Why should it not apply to the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham? Is she not a member of a local authority who has been repeatedly re-elected? Forgive me if I am wrong, but why should she have the right to remain in office and not Mr Livingstone? I think there is something very personal about this; in fact, it is a rather nasty little amendment. It smacks of, ““If you can’t get rid of them at the ballot box, get rid of them through the legislation””. We should not go down this route. However, I should like the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, to tell us what is so special about the Mayor. I believe that she referred to the cult of personality.