Ken 'crony' gets huge wage rise

Ken Livingstone faced further accusations of " cronyism" today after he reappointed his chief of staff with a 75 per cent pay rise.

The Tories hit out when Mr Livingstone announced he was re-employing Simon Fletcher on a new salary of ?117,000 - ?5,000 more than the Mayor himself.

Mr Fletcher, who was Mr Livingstone's research assistant when he was MP for Brent East, was previously on a salary of ?67,000.

The Mayor also used his powers to appoint press chief Joy Johnson to the new post of director of media and marketing and Anne Harradine to head his European office.

But it was Mr Fletcher's salary that attracted criticism from the Tory chairman of the London Assembly, Brian Coleman.

"Londoners will want to know what Mr Fletcher has done to merit a whopping pay rise of ?50,000," he said.