Beleaguered Ray Lewis resigns

Last Modified: 04 Jul 2008
By: Cathy Newman

Two months into his job, Boris Johnson's deputy mayor Ray Lewis resigns amid allegations of sleaze.

It is a rapid U-turn which calls into serious question the judgement of the Conservatives' most senior elected official - just 24 hours after Boris Johnson expressed his full confidence in Mr Lewis.

But with more damaging claims emerging today that Mr Lewis misled the public, and questions about the extent of vetting carried out by City Hall, Mr Lewis said he had taken the decision to step down with immediate effect.

Ray Lewis: statement of resignation

"Thank you for coming. It feels a bit déjà vu, seeing you all here again today.

"The barrage of allegations - unfounded, in my opinion, untrue - continue with a pace. And it was my intention, as you all know, to fight on, and I intend to do so.

"But I cannot do so without obscuring the important business of the mayor's office. The drip-drip continues, and it's getting in the way of very important work of this mayor and his vision for London.

"The inquiry, and the launching of that, has done little to calm the avalanche of allegations. Like a modern, impatient schoolchild, the media doesn't seem to accept the principle of delayed gratification. And So we go on.

"The effects on my family are beginning to tell and to show, and that must stop. Most of you will be aware that I haven't been through the political Sandhurst on my way to this important office. But I thank Boris Johnson for giving me this opportunity to serve London in this particular way, and I've been pleased to do so for these past two months.

"This is a great mayor - a man of vision, a man of courage, who I have grown to know, to love and to admire. Boris Johnson is a remarkable man and London is very fortunate, even blessed, to have him.

"But I cannot allow things that I have been into, up to, and around me to obscure the important business of this mayoralty. And for that reason I must stand down as deputy mayor for young people with immediate effect."