Deputy mayor quits over allegations

By Tim Castle

LONDON (Reuters) - London's Deputy Mayor Ray Lewis quit his post on Friday blaming the pressure of media inquiries into allegations about his past.

"I have today submitted my resignation to the mayor who has with deep regret accepted it," he said.

Mayor Boris Johnson announced on Thursday he was launching an inquiry into allegations of sexual and financial misconduct against Lewis, a Guyana-born ordained Church of England priest who runs a charity for black youths.

Lewis had dismissed the allegations as "complete rubbish" at a hastily arranged press conference with Johnson at his side at the Mayor's glass-clad City Hall office.

Johnson said he had every confidence in his deputy, but just over 24 hours later Lewis was back at the same briefing room announcing he was standing down.

"The inquiry ... has done little to calm the avalanche of allegations," he said.

"I cannot allow things that I have been in to, up to, and around me, to obscure the important business of this mayoralty and for that reason I must step down as Deputy Mayor for Young People with immediate effect."

Johnson had appointed Lewis to help tackle a wave of violent crime in London that has seen 18 teenagers die violent deaths this year, the latest a 16-year-old stabbed in south London.