PPP: A history of acrimony and failure

It was meant to be a press conference by the Mayor, London First and the London Chamber of Commerce this morning about protecting transport investment in the capital.

In fact, it got totally overshadowed by the buyout of Tube Lines announced late on Friday.

Boris Johnson looked like he didn't really want to put the boot in to Gordon Brown's pet project the PPP.... but he couldn't resist eventually after being asked about it by Alan Jones from the Press Association.

He said the PPP had been "ruthlessly scuppered" while the Prime Minister was "clinging on" to power.

A couple of points worth noting about this deal.

There are those who have told me that the Bechtel and Amey shareholders got a "fantastic deal" out of this. Not a view supported by TfL who say it was a "fair deal".

Also it's not totally been signed off yet so its not completely done.

Also there is a remarkable absence of dissenting voices from all sides. In fact, the respected commentator Christian Wolmar calls the PPP the scandal no-one noticed... Apart from the RMT Union who want assurances over jobs.

Most say its going to cost millions but TfL have made the best of a bad job.

One other point of note, this time about the Thames Estuary airport... No mention of it in the Mayor's transport strategy, as blogged by Ross Lydall at the Standard .. you can draw your own conclusions from how much emphasis is now placed on that policy idea.

Here's the full interview I did with Peter Hendy, Transport Commissioner.

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