Sadiq and Nicola’s American sojourns

Junkets are like buses: you wait ages for one to come along and then two do at once. For this month, it’s not just London mayor Sadiq Khan on a transatlantic taxpayer-funded jolly: Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon launches her American charm offensive next week too. Good thing that all is going well currently in both parts of the UK then. While both politicians sit for different parties in different assemblies, they both share a similar love of the limelight, with a penchant for selfies, statements and sojourns abroad. And it’s for that reason that both politicians are seeking to go above and beyond their constitutional remits on both their respective trips.

Take Sadiq Khan, the achingly right-on manager of the metropolis. As part of his five-day tour of the US, he is currently out in Los Angeles where yesterday he toured a marijuana farm and retailer. Khan’s visit signals that he will seek to push for legalisation of the class B drug, with the London mayor announced that Sir Keir’s chum Lord Falconer will chair London’s first commission to examine the effectiveness of drug laws in the UK. There