Boris under fresh fire

Boris Johnson was last night accused of serious errors of judgment after fresh holes emerged in the story of his former deputy mayor, Ray Lewis. The mayor's office repeatedly insisted that Lewis was not aware of allegations of financial and sexual misconduct made against him by parishioners and had not even been told by the Church of England that he was disbarred from holding office in 1999. That appeared to explain why Lewis had not declared damaging facts during vetting for his post. But that defence was dramatically undermined last night when church sources said Lewis actually appealed against the revoking of his licence in 2000, when he returned to Britain after working overseas. The Rev Chris Newlands, chaplain to the Bishop of Chelmsford, who was responsible for overseeing Lewis's parish, said: 'When Mr Lewis came back... [read full story]