Boris Johnson's anger at aide's City Hall credit card spree

Boris Johnson was furious today as it was revealed that one of his deputies used a City Hall credit card to upgrade flights and pay for meals and groceries.

Ian Clement bought business class travel for himself and a colleague on a British Airways flight to the Beijing Olympics weeks after the Mayor said he was going to fly economy to the Games.

Mr Clement also used the card to pay for lunches and dinners with fellow Conservatives and a £700 meal in New York.

The deputy mayor for "government and external relations", had the card confiscated earlier this month.

He broke City Hall rules by using it for "private expenditure" totalling £2,300, including more than £200 on groceries at Tesco and a £535.49 audio system for his Jaguar, which he then repaid. He told City Hall officials it was the only card he had at the time.

The £127,000-a-year deputy mayor was summoned to crisis talks with Mr Johnson today as a senior City Hall source said his position was "very shaky".

Mr Johnson, questioned on the spending at his monthly Question Time, told the London Assembly he was not firing Mr Clement, but would not be drawn on whether he should quit.

"I felt a deep sense of fury when we discovered what had happened," he said.

"I think it is wholly appropriate that he should make himself available in what form you [the assembly] should choose and submit himself to your interrogation.

"I had to make a very difficult decision and see if there was any evidence of real dishonesty, and I don't think there is.

"It is a very big thing to fire someone for behaviour which is inappropriate and crass."

Mr Clement faces pressure to resign after full details of his spending were revealed. He is set to be summoned by the Greater London Authority's audit committee to explain himself.

The Mayor was particularly angry at Mr Clement buying upgrades for the Beijing trip last July for himself and Dominic Hurley.

Mr Johnson had ordered big cuts in spending on the Olympics trip from the amount his predecessor Ken Livingstone had been planning to spend and flew economy himself.

Mr Clement refused to comment directly on the matter but a spokeswoman said: "Ian is very sorry and feels hugely embarrassed about the trouble caused for the Mayor."

He was the only member of the mayoral team to be issued with a corporate credit card.

Details of his spending published today show he put more than £2,300 in personal spending on his GLA card between October last year and this May.

In that time he used it for 26 personal transactions including 13 restaurant meals, a £130 hotel stay and a £58.50 bar bill.

At one point last month, Mr Clement was using the card for personal expenditure every few days, including eating out at Pont de la Tour twice, spending £105 and £125 at Butler's Wharf Chop House and Acorn House, as well as a £60 meal at Curry Mahal in Sidcup, near his home, and £45.20 at his local Pizza Express.

Mr Clement repaid the spending as soon as the card statements were received. He made no personal gain from the transactions.

However, his actions broke City Hall rules which state that corporate cards "should only be used in exceptional circumstances" and "must only be used for GLA expenditure" with "no private use".
His business spending also reveals a series of meals with Tory colleagues.

The most expensive meal was a £704.44 "formal dinner" at the Gotham Bar and Grill in Manhattan's East Village.

At the Michelin-starred restaurant he hosted Robert Lieber, New York's deputy mayor for economic development.

Among the guests was Merrick Cockell, who is leader of
Kensington and Chelsea and the chairman of London Boroughs.

They drank an Oregon pinot noir wine at $105 a bottle and a $75 bottle of French white.

The meal was during a four-day trip to New York which saw Mr Clement stay in the Bryant Park Hotel in midtown Manhattan, which advertises itself as "a nexus for young Hollywood, fashion culturati and cosmopolitans".

He spent £1,540.84, which included a series of claims for breakfast, one of which cost £41.12.

It was one of five claims he submitted for entertaining Mr Cockell, a prominent Conservative.

Mr Clement was leader of Bexley Council until he became deputy mayor. His expenses show he entertained the director of regeneration at the council with a lunch costing £61, and took five Bexley Tory councillors for lunch over the past year.

He also entertained Ed Lister, who was the head of a scrutiny panel set up to investigate excessive spending at the London Development Agency.