A body blow for Boris

Although lacking the drama of the Ray Lewis resignation, Tim Parker's departure from the London City Hall team is perhaps more of a blow to the Boris project.

The media storm created by this news has been limited. I agree with Jeremy Hargreaves that Londoners are unlikely to be shocked to the core by it. Taxes going up, traffic stopping or rubbish piling up in the street might cause Boris' poll ratings to plummet. But 'bums on seats' shifting around are unlikely to trouble the man on the Clapham omnibus.

But if I was in Boris' shoes, I would be feeling pretty shocked. I doubt whether he will be that shocked. But he ought to be.

It all goes back to an old theory about Ronald Reagan. Let me say up front that I was no fan of Reagan's politics. Of course, not. But he was a charming fellow. He managed to glide through his presidency, glad-handing all who came before him. The theory was that he knew how to delegate. He knew which decisions to take himself, which to delegate, how to keep the right distance from those he delegated to and, above all, he chose his appointees well. That was the theory. So he could be nice Mr Reagan, spending his time making sure his tie was perfectly tied and charming all before him, while the dirty work was done by a highly talented team. I might mention in passing, however, that Ronald Reagan was Governor of California for eight years before he was President. So he had top-notch experience of running what would be the tenth largest economy in the world, if it were a country.

So when Boris walked into City Hall, his first choice seemed to be to follow the Reagan route, no doubt aided by some helpful suggestions from Team Cameron. He started bringing in a talented team and delegated, albeit in an....er......interesting way.

Beginners to the art of delegation often think that it involves simply choosing experienced staff and telling them to do tasks. Of course, it is devilishly more difficult than that. It involves endless subtlety and judgment.

For example, it is a good thing to be extremely familiar with the tasks you are delegating. So, when Boris delegated planning to someone (Simon Milton? Ian Clement?) he did it knowing not the first thing about planning. Oh, I take that back. He knew that it involved balsa-wood models.

So Boris broke the first rule of delegation. Know what you are delegating. That is, really know it. Never delegate anything you don't understand. It will end up biting you in the proverbial.

Boris then broke the second rule of delegating. Know what you have delegated and to whom. And make sure they know what you have delegated to them. It has to be crystal clear. Written down. Worked through in detail. No wishy-washiness.

Look at this for an example of classic wishy-washiness of the first order courtesy of a Labour group press release quoted in Dave Hill's write-up of Boris' first Assembly question time:

The new Mayor of London Boris Johnson appeared today not to know who is making critically important decisions on his behalf. When asked if it was appropriate that he should delegate strategic planning decisions to an unelected, unaccountable adviser, Mayor Johnson insisted he had not. Yet since he was appointed two weeks ago, Ian Clement - one of Boris Johnson's deputy mayors - has been writing to London Assembly Members saying 'the Mayor has delegated his planning decisions to me'.

Planning is a fiendishly complex business. To simply toss this key role over to someone in the first few days of an administration, without knowing the first thing about the subject, is utter madness.

The Tim Parker departure really does blow a major hole in the whole Boris delegation strategy. Parker was meant to become London's "Chief Executive". The idea was, no doubt, that Boris would swan about charming everyone, while Tim Parker would get on with the heavy lifting in the background.

But now he has gone. Oh dear. And his departure has allegedly been put down to, among other things, a bit of a faux pas by Boris. That faux pas was in the area of, you guessed it, the art of delegation. Oh dear.

Boris thought he would delegate chairmanship of Transport for London to Parker. Then, he belatedly had second thoughts (which is absolutely infuriating for anyone who looks for some form of order in the administration of London). Presumably, Boris realised that (a) he'd be leaving himself (Boris) with very little to do and (b) Parker would run Transport for London like a business. After all, Parker is a businessman who amassed a multi-million fortune by making tough cost-cutting decisions. They don't call him the "Prince of Darkness" for nothing. Sadly, the thing about running public services, as opposed to a business, is that your "shareholders" are also your customers. So if you cut costs in all but benign ways or ways beneficial to the customer, you end up being voted down at the next shareholders' meeting (in this case an election).

So, to sum up, Boris' attempt to be Ronald Reagan has failed. He has, in simple terms, completely and utterly bolloxed up his first attempt at delegation.

If this were a computer game called "Delegator", the large words "GAME OVER" would now illuminate the face of Boris as he stares blinkingly into the console. A total wipe out.

So what is left? Well, dear old Boris can now start again. Hire some people with a little more experience of public services and make sure they are properly vetted.

But all these lessons for Boris are being learnt at the expense of London's taxpayers.

The other choice for Boris, and one which I think he will inevitably have to make, to a large extent, is to actually get his hands dirty. Yes, actually get involved in the detail of transport and planning himself. He'll enjoy it. But I forsee some mistakes along the line. They will, no doubt, be entertaining for Boris watchers, but sooner or later, Londoners will stop laughing.