Cripes! Boris suddenly finds £4million in his charity pot

BORIS JOHNSON today launched a scaled-down version of his plans for a new charity to help children living in poverty.

The Mayor's Fund for London had been a key election pledge but it has taken nearly a year to set up despite a planned start date of late last year.

Today it was revealed the charity would be independent from the Mayor, who has distanced himself from the project. While he will be a patron, he will not be involved in the running of the fund.

The charity suffered a setback when the chief executive, Bob Diamond, the president of Barclays plc, quit saying he was too busy.

There was also confusion over how much money had been raised when last month Mr Johnson admitted "not a lot" had been collected despite pleas to bankers to donate their bonuses.

Today it emerged he had been unaware of the figure but brushed it off by saying he had been "characteristically modest".

Chairman of the fund, Sir Trevor, Chinn, also seemed unsure of how much money was in the pot, saying there was £4 million, but new chief executive, Chris Robinson, later said there was between £4.5 and £5 million.

There are plans to spend £1.5 million this year and between £7 million and £8 million next year before reaching an annual turnover of £20 million in 2013.
Trustees tried to collect money from charitable foundations and city firms as well as meeting some of the wealthiest people in London, since January.

Sir Trevor denied the recession had hampered collecting and said: "You've got to go to the right place. The City is still making money. We've been pleasantly surprised to have companies coming to us."

He said he hoped more donations would be made when businesses saw the success of projects in the deprived boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Hackney, the City of London and Islington.

But Labour Assembly member Val Shawcross said: "Boris has come up with a Victorian solution to London's problems. He should have thought twice about relying on the good will of bankers to cure London's problems."

Mr Johnson said: "Like Robin Hood, we want to draw riches from wealth creators to give life-changing support to the poorest Londoners. I have every confidence the Mayor's Fund will provide education and opportunities to children and families in need."

Existing programmes which will receive support include:

● Every Child A Chance Trust which aims to help children falling behind at school.

● School Home Support, based in Tower Hamlets that builds support between home and school.

● The under-16 "Miss Dorothy" and "Watch Over Me" programme aimed at tackling bullying and abuse in primary and secondary schools.

● Morpeth Secondary School, which runs a mentoring programme to raise children's education aspirations.