Yesterday Brian Paddick’s campaign team released a video talking up the diversity of their London Assembly slate.
As you can see below, it starts with Brian calling Ken and Boris “tired old men”and then pushes the message that the Liberal Democrats look like London.
I thought the mild agism it contains worthy of comment, as is the newfound Lib Dem commitment to a diverse Assembly team.
In 2004-08 the party had five all white Assembly Members, two of which were members of the House of Lords. Not much diversity there as I commented at the time.
Their current three AMs, all of whom I hold in very high regard, are also all white. As are the top three candidates on the London-wide list – the party would need to increase its vote share to get a single BME candidate elected.
This morning on Twitter I was engaged in what I thought was a good mannered discussion with Brian about the video and the diversity claims.
I even drew favourable comparisons between the way he engaged and the way Ken and Boris supporters claim bias when I criticise or question their candidate.
But I should have held off with the praise, because while Labour and Conservatives often accuse me of supporting the other team, neither have ever stooped so low as to suggest I support the BNP:
