Boris: "Powerful argument" to shut Lewisham A&E

Ahead of tomorrow's expected verdict on the fate of Lewisham A&E, which faces closure under a plan to rescue less-well-run hospitals, Mayor Johnson has declined to speak out in favour of protecting Lewisham services. The News Shopper reports:

When asked about the issue at City Hall, he replied that the administrators had made a "powerful argument" to shut the A&E. He said: "It would be inappropriate for me, wrong for me, to do what you want me to do in respect of Lewisham A&E."

The Standard's City Hall editor Pippa Crerar said: "So Boris not coming out to bat for Lewisham then?"

Perhaps it might have been unrealistic to expect Boris, who owes his mayoralty to voters in the outer boroughs, to back Lewisham's case when an alternative plan might require cuts in Tory-stronghold Bromley, but he could have at least have acknowledged the (much more) powerful argument in favour of saving Lewisham A&E.