The first definition of that word is fitting, though perhaps not what you meant.
Grayling had a similar relationship with London as Shapps, he notably wrote a letter saying London can't have nice things because Labour sometimes runs it. He wrote that to Johnson. I don't think Khan can be blamed for a relationship set in its ways before he arrived.
This.
The same voices that constantly harp on about how much they can't stand "the Mayor" never seem to acknowledge that his Predecessor was fine with the utterly corrupt way Grayling (not his first brown envelope either) treated TfL/London during his extended photo-op of an administration and did much to set up the current awful situation.
It's got to the point where the "they're both as bad as each other" tendency are simply there to provide disingenuous cover for the fact a Tory Govt DO treat London and other Metropolitan Authorities differently because they are Opposition held.
And that comment about "recognising the real world" - pure comedy gold.
The Government mandated that TfL had to keep running as full a service as if things were normal - at a time when Bus Drivers were dying at a horribly disproportionate rate to the rest of us - and that boarding via the exit door on buses meant revenue was further sacrificed to try and take the edge off that.
TfL were ordered to keep going by their Paymaster. Not the Mayor. Hence massive deficit ahoy.
Anyone that wants to attribute this and an awful lot of other facts-of-life to willy waving by "the Mayor" should come with a paid-sponsorship warning.
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