How will another resignation affect London's Mayor?

By Jonathan Josephs BBC News

Tim Parker's resignation has come just months into Johnson's tenure as mayor

The hat-trick resignation hasn't taken long.

With Tim Parker stepping down from the post of First Deputy Mayor of London, Boris Johnson has yet again been stumped.

Is it too early for judgement to be cast over the new mayor's administration, or should he really have his team selection and strategy in order by now?

Tim Parker will also cease to chair the capital's strategic transport authority, Transport for London (TfL).

Boris Johnson has said that this is a role which over the past weeks it has become "increasingly apparent" he needs to do himself.

The mayor says his eyes have been opened as to exactly how political a role chairing TfL is and therefore it is only right that, for the benefit of accountability, he takes it on himself.

This insight into the mayor's thinking begs a simple question, did he not realise this earlier? It was the end of September 2007 when he won the Conservative party candidacy, a full seven months before May's City Hall election.

Ill prepared?

The responsibilities of chairing TfL are not the only area that appears not to have been properly researched.

In June, the mayor told the BBC he doubted the existence of a memorandum of understanding between his office and the government on overspends for London 2012 despite it having been online for a year.

There was also the admission of failure to thoroughly check the background of Ray Lewis, the deputy mayor who was forced to resign when allegations of past financial irregularities came to light.

This all smacks of an administration that has been trying to run before it can walk, a regime that wasn't ready to take up the reins of power when it won election.

It can be argued that all this poor preparation is not a symptom of an incompetent mayor but is merely indicative of a political system of sudden death changeovers that has become outdated.

However, critics will point out that Boris Johnson not only had the benefit of seven months to prepare but also the backing of the machinery of Britain's richest political party.

With London offering David Cameron a chance to test his policies before the next general election, surely Boris was worth a few pounds of investment?

Delegating style

In fact, staff were seconded from Conservative Central Office to help Boris's City Hall bid, so perhaps the failures speak more of Mr Johnson's leadership style.

The mayor's success in editing the Spectator magazine is widely attributed to his style of delegation.

This modus operandi was something that had seemed set to continue from the eighth floor of the building Boris has dubbed "the great pickled onion". However, his plans seem to be slowly peeling away.

The mayor may have thought that Tim Parker would be well placed to bring value for money to TfL given his track record of slashing costs in the private sector.

However, with this week's Tube strike only narrowly avoided, Mr Johnson will now have to take a more hands-on approach in confronting the RMT union over their financial demands.

In addition to taking charge of his newly created Waste Authority, and his responsibilities for planning issues, London's first million-vote mayor has already decided that he will chair the Metropolitan Police Authority as soon as he is entitled to, from the beginning of October.

Clashes are already looking likely with Met Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair, with noises from City Hall indicating that Mr Johnson wants to oust "New Labour's favourite cop".

Tim Parker's resignation is likely to come as a blow to the mayor.

The latest resignation means that the scene is now set for the mayor to find himself in position for even more direct confrontations.

Later this week the mayor will be in Beijing to officially pick-up London's status as Olympic host city, a sign that his work for 2012 has only just begun.

Just three months into his mayoralty Mr Johnson has been quick to congratulate each of Britain's medallists in China, more questions are now bound to be asked over whether he is capable of inducing such praise in four years time.

Furthermore, a replacement for Ray Lewis has yet to be found. Without a replacement to direct City Hall's approach to youth crime, Mr Johnson has even more work piling up in his personal in-tray.

The Chair of the London Assembly, Labour's Jennette Arnold, has said: "Boris Johnson has realised that as elected mayor he must take more of a central decision-making role rather than delegating his responsibilities to his deputies".

With Liberal Democrat opponents claiming Tim Parker's resignation is a sure sign that the "wheels are coming off" Mr Johnson's administration, and Labour assembly members pointing to signs of "chaos", it appears that the mayor himself may now be realising that hands-on is the approach he needs to take.

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