Navin Shah calls for Councillor Bertha Joseph to be sacked (From This Is Local London)

Navin Shah calls for Councillor Bertha Joseph to be sacked

1:44pm Monday 8th March 2010 in

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LONDON'S mayor has been urged to sack a shamed Tory councillor from the the capital's fire authority.

Councillor Bertha Joseph was suspended from her Kensal Green ward after it emerged she used charitable donations to buy a ball gown.

She appealed the decision but the bid to clear her name failed and Boris Johnson, the London mayor, must now decide whether to kick her off the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA), where she is deputy chair.

Councillor Navin Shah, Labour London Assembly member for Brent and Harrow, said: “Clearly Cllr Joseph has no case to make.

“The mayor has had well over four months to take action and its time he does that without anymore dithering or looking for excuse.

“The delaying tactic on the part of the mayor is more to do with saving his party’s political skin than taking a firm and decisive action against sleaze and defending the reputation of the London Fire Brigade and public office.”

Fiona Laurent, a spokesman for Boris Johnson, said on Thursday: “The Mayor has written to Bertha Joseph to inform her that he is considering her position on the LFEPA board.

“He has invited her to make her case to him within the next fortnight.”

Councillor Joseph is being investigated for theft by Brent Police.

She has always protested her innocence, saying the allegations are part of a Labour slur campaign.