Why should Boris Johnson command the national stage?

By William Green on Feb 7, 12 10:54 AM

"We can't have a situation where the only name that's known in local government is Boris Johnson.

"Why should he be commanding the national stage? We need the elected leaders of our great cities to be commanding the national stage."

That is what David Miliband said to me in an interview in his Westminster office, offering his general support for a switch to elected mayors running England's big cities - including Newcastle.

"I am not going to tell people how to vote, but I do believe that strengthening local government is important and direct accountability that mayoral systems give is a way of triggering that," said the South Shields MP and former Cabinet minister.

And while not talking specifically about Newcastle, he added: "A direct mayoral election has a lot going for it.

"It has been a success in London and we need more leaders around the country to become household names.

"Now Nick Forbes has had a brilliant first year as leader of Newcastle. I think he should have more power or Newcastle City Council should have more power.

"And I think one way of reversing the centralisation of power is for people like Nick Forbes to have a direct mandate on their backs because it is much harder to say no to them."

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