Sir Simon's Deputy Mayor appointment renders him ineligible for the LGA post Sir Simon Milton has stepped down as chairman of the Local Government Association – just as the organisation faces a massive shake-up. He will resign as a councillor at Westminster City Council to take up a post as deputy mayor of London under Boris Johnson – filling the gap left by Ray Lewis's resignation – making Sir Simon ineligible for the LGA post. His announcement comes just a fortnight after the Tory group re-elected all its posts (see The MJ, 3 July), and as the LGA's business review announced plans to scrap the local government bodies and bring them back in-house. Few leaders command the level of respect Sir Simon has achieved. Earlier this month he was voted the most respected council leader in an Ipsos-MORI/The MJ poll of chief executives and leaders. Leader of Buckinghamshire, David Shakespeare, and leader of Bracknell Forest, Paul Bettison, also both featured in the top 10 of The MJ's list – and may both compete for the chairmanship. However, Cllr Shakespeare has just been appointed as leader of the Tory group at the LGA. Margaret Eaton, who has just stepped down as leader of the Tories, is the favourite to take over from Sir Simon. She is one of the few Tory councillors with experience of leading the LGA at that level. Sir Simon Milton is already part of the mayoral team, as a part-time, unpaid adviser on planning issues for the capital. Under the Widdecombe rules, he will have to resign as a councillor, since the new post will come with a salary. Sir Simon said the chance to work across the capital was ‘irresistible'. He said: ‘I believe that I can make a significant contribution to making Londoners' lives better, and making Boris Johnson's mayoralty a success.' Labour group leader and LGA vice chair, Sir Jeremy Beecham, paid tribute to Sir Simon's leadership, and said: ‘Sir Simon has made a tremendous contribution to the LGA – and the sector as a whole.' But he added: ‘The saga of the new mayor's first few weeks in office has seen a succession of blunders, culminating in a decision to upgrade Sir Simon from an unpaid adviser to deputy mayor, only a fortnight after he was re-elected as LGA chair, a position he now has to relinquish. ‘This is not so much a Whitehall farce as a City Hall farce.' The timetable for the election for Sir Simon's replacement is unclear, but his successor is expected to be in post around September. Top post – the contenders Margaret Eaton David Shakespeare Paul Bettison David Parsons Merrick Cockell Gordon Keymer Henry Smith Keith Mitchell Lord Hanningfield
