by Seham Al Amshan and Paula Fischer-Fodor
“When representing people, I get a rush knowing that I helped them change things around for the better.”
On a normal day, Andrew Boff, 64, is a homebody, relaxing in his time off by watching something on Netflix and eating junk food. He also claims to be a ‘liberal with a small L,’ despite his Conservative roots.
He was one of six panellists yesterday at London Met Journalism’s Cost-of-Living Crisis’s newsweek, discussing everything from free school meals for primary school children to housing to socialism.
Boff is the Chair of the London Assembly, working closely with members of all parties to hold Sadiq Khan into account. He started his career in politics by working as a local councillor for the Hillingdon Council between 1990 and 1992.
He advanced quickly in his career, serving as a London-wide Assembly Member since 2008, as well as leading the Greater London Authority Conservatives between 2012 and 2015.
Boff is also an accomplished businessman, running his own IT support company.
He gets involved with the community any chance he gets
After moving to Hackney, he started helping out with Broadway Market’s Saturday Market, actively campaigning to keep it a social enterprise.
“This morning, I’ve been out to see the London Ambulance Call Centre down in Newham. It was fascinating,” said Boff.
Boff is enthralled with doing everything in his power to help. He talked about cases he has taken on as a local councillor and how much they shaped him to be a better person.
“The buzz is better than any drug. The fact that you have taken some action to make somebody else’s life better is unimaginable,” said Boff.
Reflecting on the cost-of-living crisis
Boff pointed out that some of the most deprived areas in the UK are in London, but said that despite that, he is not a huge fan of levelling up.
“I was always a critic of levelling up as it sounds like socialism, and I’m not one of them,” he told the panel.
Later he added: “The government has got limited options, but there could always be more done,” he said.
Boff has shown his instinct for demanding responsibility of higher authorities outside of the GLA.
“Every government agency and every local authority has got to look at what it is asking of the public and whether or not they [the public] can afford it. We should be looking at reducing the impact on the public,” said Boff.
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