Deputy Mayor of London

The Deputy Mayor of London is a member of the London Assembly appointed by the Mayor of London in accordance with the Greater London Authority Act 1999. No particular duties are specified by the Act, except to be available as temporary Mayor during a vacancy or temporary incapacity of the Mayor. The Deputy Mayor's salary in 2007–08 is £90,954.

The 2000 London mayoral election was won by Ken Livingstone, who ran as an independent after being expelled from the Labour Party. He announced that he would rotate the position of deputy mayor equally between the four parties represented in the London Assembly (Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Green). He offered the role to Nicky Gavron of the Labour Party for the first year. After some political manoeuvring, she accepted.

However, in 2001, Ken Livingstone decided not to offer the role to the Conservatives, claiming it would be disruptive, so Nicky Gavron retained the post. In 2002 the Liberal Democrats were asked to nominate a candidate but declined, saying that it would be better to scrutinise the mayor from an independent position. Again Nicky Gavron remained. In 2003, the Greens accepted an offer to nominate a deputy mayor and selected Jenny Jones, who became London's second deputy mayor.

Nicky Gavron was originally chosen as the Labour candidate for the 2004 London mayoral election but she stepped aside when Ken Livingstone was invited to rejoin the party. They then ran on a joint ticket as Labour's candidates for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor. She served as Ken Livingstone's deputy for the duration of his second term.

In his first term, Ken Livingstone came under fire for delegating his powers to his Chief of Staff, Simon Fletcher, rather than the deputy mayor on several occasions.

After Boris Johnson became Mayor in May 2008, he appointed Richard Barnes as his statutory Deputy Mayor, with the specific responsibility for community cohesion and regeneration. However, he also gave the title of Deputy Mayor to several other people, each with a specific role: Ian Clement (Government Relations); Kit Malthouse (Policing); and Ray Lewis (Young People).

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