Norris weathers Jarvis storm

Steve Norris's bid to become Mayor of London has been backed by the Tory high command after crisis talks over his £100,000-ayear job with rail contractor Jarvis.

Conservative chairman Liam Fox issued a statement supporting his campaign after a "friendly and constructive" private meeting.

And Tory leader Michael Howard denied weekend reports that he was seeking to ditch Mr Norris as mayoral candidate.

He said: "I think Steve is the best candidate for Mayor of London and I hope he wins." But a number of senior Tories were continuing to question whether Mr Norris could fight an election because of the alleged conflicts of interest with his business affairs.

After the hour-long meeting at the House of Commons yesterday, Dr Fox issued a statement which did not mention Mr Norris by name. He said: "The meeting was friendly, constructive and extremely useful.

"We discussed how we could improve Conservative representation in the coming elections in London, both those to the London Assembly and of a mayor who can begin to transform the lives of people in London, particularly in relation to crime, which has spiralled out of control under Ken Livingstone." A party spokesman

refused to say how much of the meeting was taken up by the Jarvis furore but the matter was said to have been high on the agenda.

Mr Norris's team insisted the talks were mainly devoted to funding and staffing for the mayoral contest.

Jarvis is being investigated for its role as a maintenance contractor in the Potters Bar crash last year in which seven died.

A serious fear among Conservatives - including some of Mr Norris's supporters - is that Labour might engineer a political controversy involving Jarvis in order to embarrass Mr Norris. "There is this awful worry that the Government will come up with some new inquiry into the Potters Bar crash next March or April just to raise a stink for Steve," said one MP.

Question marks over the Norris campaign grew after he was made the new chairman of Jarvis last week. Labour and Liberal Democrats immediately called on him to stand down, claiming the post created a serious conflict of interest.

Jarvis is a key contractor to Transport for London, with deals worth tens of millions of pounds, which Mr Norris would control if he became mayor.

Among Tories, critics also seized on the appointment, saying it implied Mr Norris was not serious about winning the mayoral race against Mr Livingstone and Lib-Dem Simon Hughes.

Although the two-days-a-week post was described as "interim", the company made it clear it would become permanent-if Mr Norris failed to become mayor. Some Tories say this has made it impossible for Mr Norris to speak freely.

One senior London Tory claimed: "It is a fiasco because Steve Norris will have to keep quiet on a whole range of issues which could be said to involve Jarvis.

"He can hardly dare say a word against the way the Tube is run because of his business links."

One senior shadow minister said Mr Norris's new post was "an absolute gift to Ken Livingstone".

Unlike the party leader, who as Iain Duncan Smith found out, can be ousted by a vote of MPs, the mayoral candidate cannot be removed by any formal procedure.

In practice, he would have to resign if he lost the confidence of Mr Howard. Then, the Tories would start from scratch to elect a replacement.