Image: Garry Knight
Islington MP Emily Thornberry launched a scathing attack on mayor Boris Johnson after he branded members of the campaign to save Clerkenwell Fire Station a “bunch of clacks”.
In a London Assembly meeting last Monday to vote on the mayor’s controversial budget, Mr Johnson, who lives in Islington, told opponents to the cuts they were “great supine, protoplasmic, invertebrate jellies”.
Ms Thornberry said his comments were “outrageous” and proof that the mayor is out of touch with residents.
She said: “The mayor’s attitude was deeply disappointing and insulting. It was clear that he had no interest in listening to the views of his Islington neighbours.
“For him to call the firefighters and pensioners who attended the meeting a ‘bunch of clacks’ is unacceptable. None of us opposed to the closure had an Etonian education. I had to look it up in the dictionary afterwards and the definition is unprintable.”
Ms Thornberry joined a group of senior Labour politicians, firefighters and members of the public to protest against the proposed closure of the station in Rosebery Avenue, the oldest fire station in Europe.
The mayor rejected a petition she tried to hand in at City Hall because there is different procedure for budget meetings, which drew a furious reaction from the Islington South MP.
“It’s going to be hard to explain to people in Islington why I wasn’t allowed to hand their signatures in,” she said. “It’s unimaginative bureaucracy. He needs to take responsibility for his actions and fight for London for once.”
Clerkenwell firefighter and Fire Brigades Union (FBU) official, Greg Edwards, who is leading the campaign to save the station, said the mayor’s comments were shocking and unprofessional.
He said: “In my work I’m expected to act professionally. If I don’t, then I get in trouble. It just seems like he is able to do what he likes and thinks it is funny that he can get away with it.”
The mayor’s £16.5bn budget, which was eventually passed by 16 votes to nine, will cut the London Fire Brigade’s budget by £45million over the next two years and will lead to the closure of 12 fire stations.
Opposition parties had called for the proposed council tax cut to be reversed, which they claimed would save all 12 fire stations.
But Mr Johnson rejected it as irresponsible and politically motivated, saying his proposals were based on professional advice from senior fire officials.