Blackstone scoops Mayor's Tube fight

Blackstone Chambers has scooped instructions to represent three parties in Ken Livingstone's fresh claim over the Government's plans to part-privatise the Tube, an action believed to be the largest judicial review of the year.
Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC is acting for the Mayor of London against fellow Blackstone tenant John Howell QC, for London Underground (LU). This is Livingstone's second judicial review of the public/private partnership proposals, on the grounds that the Government has allegedly failed to guarantee funds to pay for it.
Blackstone's Michael Beloff QC is also acting for one of three interested parties, Tube Lines, which is the preferred bidder for the regeneration of the Jubilee, Piccadilly and Northern lines. Metronet and the Secretary of State for Transport, represented by the Treasury Solicitor, are the other interested parties.
Complex Chinese walls have been erected in Blackstone to cope with the massive long-term risks of conflicts arising out of work by three teams handled by one clerks room. Blackstone's junior tenants Thomas de la Mare and Pushpinder Saini are acting respectively for the Mayor, who is joined by Transport for London, and LU, which is joined by London Regional Transport.
Officially LU has no external lawyers instructing Howell, although it is expected there will be City firms behind the scenes.
One of the Mayor's allegations is that British and EU procurement rules have been violated. The EC is investigating this issue.