Jason Perry, Croydon’s part-time, £82,000 per year Mayor, wants another four years in the job.
Out of his depth: Jason Perry wants four more years on £82,000
Tory Perry, who was elected in 2022 with a borough-wide majority of fewer than 600 votes, made the startling announcement in a little-read newssheet, London Business Matters.
But then, in the superficial “two-minute interview” – so nothing too deep for a man who’s out of his depth in a puddle on North End – piss-poor Perry also revealed that he would like to be played by actor Michael Keaton if ever a movie were to be made of his life. Maybe Batman – The Porkie Pie Years?
Perry confirmed his ambition in his speech at the waste-of-time mayor-making council meeting at Croydon Town Hall last week.
Perry is the borough’s first elected Mayor.
In his first two years in office, the Tory Mayor has issued a Section 114 notice because he could not balance the books, hiked Council Tax by 21% while flogging off public assets at a loss, is offering open spaces and public parks for sale, wants to close or downgrade half the borough’s libraries, and has added another £258million-worth of borrowing to the council’s debts – with another £76million of borrowing to come in the next two years.
Superficial: two minutes is just about as much as any reasonable person can take of Porkie Pie Perry
Following the Government’s intervention last year, handing greater powers to the Whitehall-appointed “improvement panel”, Perry doesn’t even have effective control of Croydon Council.
But he still expects to be given another four-year term as Mayor in 2026.
“I am proud to say that I am the first elected mayor in this role having been voted in two years ago,” he is quoted as saying.
“It is a four-year term and I intend to run for a second term in 2026.”
Perry never really expected to be elected in 2022 – he was still on the ballot paper in South Croydon ward seeking to be elected again as a councillor there.
“Before I entered the political world full-time, I worked in the family business supplying the construction industry,” Perry said.
Perry has never resigned his directorship of Carlton Business Plastics (where the only other director is 82-year-old Michael Perry), a business which continues to trade. Indeed, despite his claim of being “full-time” in the political world, Perry also holds another two directorships, where he describes himself as “managing director” and “general manager”. But not as “politician”. Nor as “mayor”.
“I inherited a very challenging situation in Croydon – to put it mildly,” Perry said.
“We have made progress in a number of areas, particularly through planning where we are striving to achieve what we term ‘design over density’ and put character first for residents and businesses.”
Perry goes on to mention Croydon’s year as the Borough of Culture, referencing Stormzy and Raye, two world-class performers who had nothing to do with Croydon’s year as Borough of Culture…
But we discover that Perry’s business model is Lord Sugar. “Truly inspirational,” Perry said, apparently seriously.
Perry used the brief interview to mention that he would want more devolution to London boroughs and “more direct funding”. The man who commissioned the building of the council’s Fisher’s Folly offices for £150million – more expensive per square metre than The Shard – failed to say how he might use such funding.
But it was only two minutes, a small mercy for which we should all be grateful.
Read more: Call for Tory Mayor to resign after Government’s takeover
Read more: Residents’ groups reject Purley ‘pool’ plan backed by Perry
Read more: MP calls on Met to investigate Tories’ ‘vile cesspit’ groups
Read more: How businesses profited at expense of the Borough of Culture
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