City Hall Spy: Boris deputy tipped as mayor candidate

Kit Malthouse is being talked about in Tory circles as the party’s next candidate for Mayor, if Boris Johnson sticks to his promise not to stand again and the party cannot persuade a bigger political beast into the fray.

However, the deputy mayor for business is reluctant to be drawn on his ambitions, telling Spy that he considers such speculation “graceless” coming only 18 months into the Mayor’s second term.

He says: “I’ve learnt after 15 years in politics there is no point planning. A year before Boris became Mayor he had no idea he was even going to stand, and more to the point neither did the rest of us.”

But when pressed on whether he is ruling himself out for good, he sighs: “It’s a fantastic job, who wouldn’t want to do it? But there’s a long way to go between then and now.”

City Hall slipped out a little noticed report on the arts last week. In “Culture on the High Street”, Boris urges councils to use “a little imagination, a dash of inspiration and a fair amount of perspiration” to add vibrancy to shopping parades. It says action is needed due to Government cuts, and calls for a “vision that puts people, not profit, at their core”. Spy wonders if Culture Secretary Maria Miller has been sent a copy.

Sir Peter Hendy has shaken off embarrassing claims that he spent public cash on a fling with an escort girl. And the London transport chief also has his boss’s backing. Asked on LBC radio about the claims, the Mayor said: “This sort of thing doesn’t affect the excellent job he’s been doing. Allegations about him giving her free Oyster cards have not been substantiated. I didn’t see any evidence of any impropriety.”