MPs tell Boris to sit down as he tries to leave snow inquiry

BORIS JOHNSON was told to sit down by an MP today and answer "one more question" as he tried to escape from a transport committee meeting hearing.

The Mayor had been accused by the Labour-dominated panel of a lack of co-ordination and not having been involved in major decisions in the run-up to February's snowfall.

This resulted in London's buses - which had run even during the Blitz - being suspended for a whole day.

Instead, Mr Johnson had slept through a decision to call in night buses and was only made aware of the severity of the problems at around 6am on Monday, 2 February.

The committee chairman, Labour MP Louise Ellman, told Mr Johnson: "London virtually shut down in a way that did not happen anywhere else in the country. You did not act in accordance with your responsibility."

But Mr Johnson, who as well as being Mayor is also chairman of Transport for London, accused her of being party political and said: "I think your characterisation of events is quite wrong and smacks of party political bias. I do not have the power to stop the biggest discharge of snow we have had for 20 years.

"I do not for one minute condemn the decision of the controller to take a decision to tell all the night buses to make their way home because there were 30 accidents in the run-up to that decision."

After 40 minutes, Mr Johnson made as if to leave, saying that he had been interrogated for long enough but Mrs Ellman told him to sit down and answer one final question.

Mr Johnson said his only regret had been that the public had not been informed of the accidents and danger to bus drivers and the public for another 24hours. He said: "It's important to get the message across, as a lie will go half-way across the world before the truth has had a chance to put its boots on."

The committee also criticised Mr Johnson for not having made himself more available to them and they said he was only appearing today before them with reluctance.

Earlier, the chairman of the London Assembly transport committee and Labour Assembly member Val Shawcross had weighed in and accused Mr Johnson of being "almost entirely absent from the incident". She said: "I found it strange that the Mayor hadn't been more proactive."

But transport commissioner Peter Hendy defended the Mayor's lack of involvement and said he had sent the Mayor a text message after it became clear no buses were able to run and then had spoken to him a few minutes later. Mr Hendy said: "I don't tend to disturb people more than is necessary. There's nothing more the Mayor could do."