• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

MayorWatch

London News and Comment

  • NEWS
  • COMMENT
  • CONTACT
  • Twitter

Running Against The Three Party Bias

January 23, 2008 - Damian Hockney

Damian Hockney
Damian Hockney stood as a candidate in the first London Mayor elections, in 2000 and was elected to the London Assembly in 2004. He is Leader of the One London Party at the Assembly, the only political group dedicated solely to London issues, and is likely to be the party’s mayoral candidate on 1st May.


Here he discusses why he’s so concerned that public meetings and media coverage focus on ‘main candidates’ in an election which claims to be about individuals:

“It wouldn’t be democratic to include you on the panel”. Those were the astonishing words which greeted me, a declared candidate, for the first London Mayor election in 2000, when I tried ever so politely to get onto the platform at a hustings at St Paul’s Cathedral. This was my first taste of the strange world of Mayoral politics, where “celebrity” chancers can declare themselves candidates and be given media time, but allowing genuine candidates a platform is considered undemocratic.

Is it right for candidates to be told that it is “undemocratic” for them to be allowed to state their views in a public hustings if they have been nominated, adopted, paid their £10,000 deposit and got their 300-odd signatures from every London borough? The party I was standing for had recently won three seats at the European Elections, had a popular view that ‘devolution’ was in fact centralisation of power, and had a manifesto for London. But no. It still wouldn’t be “democratic” for me to be on the panel.

But it’s the perverse logic of the response, the almost desparate clinging to any excuse to avoid including “others” which is most worrying. And it leads directly to loss of interest among voters and a low turnout. It happened everywhere during that election, and indeed in the last one as well in 2004. Another good example was when ITV in London had a TV special on the South Bank. We were told that it would “cause trouble” if others like us were featured or even mentioned.

Perhaps the best example of all was the Hampstead hustings where the panel included Mayoral candidate Malcolm McLaren. Malcolm McLaren? Yes, don’t you remember? The former Sex Pistols svengali had had a bit of puff coverage in the Sunday supplements six months before, saying that he might stand. By the time of the Hampstead event he had pulled out long since, while we had paid our deposit, got all our hundreds of signatories etc etc. We contacted the organisers early, having seen an advance notice and asked for a place on the panel. “There’s no room”. Our response was, so why are you including someone who’s already said he won’t, er, actually, be taking part in the Mayor election? They didn’t quite know how to answer that one.

It was awkward interrogating the organisers, because you knew that they were just trying to make it interesting by having a celeb on the panel as well as the ‘main candidates’. But the problem with this is that the Mayor election is officially an election about individuals and not parties. In fact when we came to do our pages for the 2000 election booklet, we had all references to the party and Assembly candidates censored out other than the logo. “It’s about individuals, this election,” we kept being told. “Not parties”. Fine, but if it is decided that there are Main Candidates (on the basis of parties) and that others should not be heard, there is a problem.

And the main problem after considerations of democracy and fairness is that it is so boring. I’m not sure how many saw the ITV Mayoral debate recently, shoved (unlisted) into the graveyard slot in the wee hours when life is at its lowest ebb. In early January. What a tiresome, pitiful rehearsal of how these Main Candidates will all avoid discussing specifics during the actual campaign. Platitudes, rabbit-out-of the-hat responses (specially from Johnson and Paddick) and uncosted promises.

We in the One London Party have not declared yet, so I can make no complaint about not being invited on, but why not Sian Berry of the Greens? Ditto Gerard Batten of UKIP – the party polled more votes than the LibDems in 2004 and has also stood at every Mayor and Assembly election. They have both been declared by their parties and would have made the programme at least a little less dull.

When the 2000 Mayoral Election suddenly sank in the first week into a kind of state-induced torpor, with acres of dull reportage trying to hype excitement around Main Candidates whose only interest was in being safe, we predicted a turnout of one in three at most. Everyone disagreed, saying this was the most exciting thing ever – but it was so obvious that the public engagement just wasn’t there. It says something that in 2000 and 2004, most of the people I work with at my publishing company had no understanding of how the election worked – as it was effectively hijacked by the system, it was of no interest to them at all. And that was when there were some differences! But this time? The Tories have selected Ken-Lite (keep the C-Charge but tinker with it, and replicate that approach for everything else) and the LibDem guy frankly is clearly uncomfortable with running for office, and is visibly overwhelmed by the enormity of the brief.

But of course, I have worked at City Hall for almost four years as an Assembly Member. I see what the Mayor can and cannot do. And most importantly I know the cost to the London taxpayer that every policy statement entails. And this of course is why it is already turning into a dull dull election – the other Main Candidates have no expreience of London government, and are out of their depth on financial issues.

So unless other candidates are given a chance, it will be an election with 3 members of the LibLabCon party mouthing similar platitudes, avoiding specifics and scoring points off each other.

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related

Comments

  1. Phil says

    January 24, 2008 at 1:53 pm

    Between attempts to limit media exposure to ‘the main candidates’ and certain parties wanting to limit the Mayor’s term of office you’d think the establishment were regretting creating such a powerful role which, in theory, anyone can get elected to.

    The ITV Mayoral ‘debate’ was real car crash TV. I lost count how many times huq said it was a ‘special’ or ‘very special’ episode. Dreadful!

  2. Roberta Woods says

    February 7, 2008 at 4:59 pm

    Damian Hockney, I have to say, you are a first-class hypocrite, you say this is a dull, dull election, but you are not looking hard enough. While bemoaning the fact that you were excluded from public debates during the 2000 and 2004 campaigns, you cite Sian Berry of the Greens as a suitable candidate for ‘inclusion’, while not even mentioning the British National Party’s splendid (and interesting!)candidate Richard Barnbrook. This is all the more hypocritical given the fact that our BNP candidate gained more votes than his Green counterpart in the 2004 election! However, I must agree that one cannot have democracy for some and not for others – all candidates shoud be able to compete on a level playing-field.

  3. Darren Chapman says

    April 17, 2008 at 8:24 pm

    I believe that there will not be true democracy in the Mayoral elections until the television/radio debates etc feature all candidates regardless of how well known or popular they are. The media should not dictate to us who the most popular candidates are we should decide. I was a candidate on http://www.londonelectsyou.co.uk for the chance to run for mayor and the one thing that really makes the site is that every single candidate is given the same amount of time and space to advertise their policies etc.

RECENT UPDATES

TfL appoints permanent finance chief while Tube boss passes day to day responsibility for the service to his deputies

Sadiq Khan’s claims about LPG’s “limited” air quality benefits challenged by industry body

In an age of devolution the UK’s arcane Purdah rules simply hinder good government

At City Hall, the Mayor and London Assembly are already helping to reduce single-use plastic




Popular

Sadiq announces £500,000 in grants to support London’s creative firms and workers

TfL hopes to cash-in with auction of sector-exclusive advertising rights along the Elizabeth line

The protestors are wrong, Sadiq is delivering his clean energy pledges

London’s contactless fares system to power New York’s subway, bus and rail journeys

FEATURED

London’s bus ridership is falling three times faster than the rest of England’s

Soarings costs will damage smaller firms’ ability to support the economy, warns FSB

Business leaders say Mayor should use derelict Green belt land to provide thousands of homes for 999 workers

How Transport for London and Waze are using data sharing to keep London’s traffic moving

GOT A STORY?

As the original London news and scrutiny site we've been casting an eye over the capital's public services and politicians since 1999.

 

Many of our top stories started with a tip-off from a reader - if you've got something you'd like us to cover get in touch and we'll do the rest.

Stay In Touch

  • E-mail
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2018 MayorWatch Publications Limited · MayorWatch is Registered Trademark · All Rights Reserved · Contact Us · Terms of Use

MayorWatch Publications Limited · 20-22 Wenlock Road · London N1 7GU · Company Number 6291816

MayorWatch uses cookies to ensure we give you the best experience on our site. Accept If you continue without changing your browser settings, we'll assume that you agree to our use of cookies. Read our privacy policy.
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.