Boris Johnson will receive guidance by the GLA’s Monitoring Officer over the use of his Mayor of London twitter account after the Greater London Authority’s Standards’ Committee found he could be seen to have breached the Authority’s code of conduct by tweeting on a party political matter.

The three- person sub-committee, with a majority of independent members, investigated a complaint from a member of the public who questioned whether it was appropriate for Johnson to use his mayoral twitter feed to welcome the Sun’s endorsement of the Conservative party – which he cheered with “The sun has got his hat on, hip hip hip hooray.”

The committee has now found [pdf] that:

Having regard to all the circumstances, the Assessment Sub-Committee concluded that, by writing in that manner, the Mayor of London could be seen to have breached paragraph 6(b) (ii) of the Authority’s Code of Conduct, as it appeared on the evidence presented that the Mayor of London was using GLA resources in seeking to affect party political support.

Having regards to all the facts and circumstances, the Assessment Sub-Committee considered that it was appropriate and proportionate for it to take a decision of “other action”, requiring the GLA’s Monitoring Officer to raise this with Mr Johnson, the Mayor of London, and give guidance to him about the use by him or his office of the Mayor of London twitter account.

[My emphasis]

The hyperlink to the twitter account was found on the Mayor of London page on the GLA website. The standards commitee concluded that Johnson was clearly acting in his official capacity.

The report into the alleged misuse of GLA resources also reported “it was not clear from the Mayor of London’s twitter page whether the tweet was written by the Mayor of London, or by someone on his behalf.”

Johnson – or someone on his behalf – had linked via his tweet to the Sun’s front page announcing its decision to endorse the Conservative party and end support for Labour.

H/t @Helzbels