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

MayorWatch

London News and Comment

  • NEWS
  • Twitter

Brian Paddick: ‘All Londoners need a good education and a stake in society’

August 17, 2011 - Brian Paddick

Brian Paddick during the 2008 Mayoral election. Photo: MayorWatch
Brian Paddick, one of four contenders hoping to become the Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of London, sets out the need to ensure all Londoner’s have a stake in society.

Did the Tory and Labour rivals to be London’s Mayor in 2012 rise to the occasion when London faced one of its most serious crises in recent years?  When clear leadership was needed, they both seemed somewhat confused.

When the current Mayor, Boris Johnson, finally returned from holiday, three days after the first riots, his first photo opportunity was with a green bristled broom pretending to sweep up with other residents.  He was heckled for returning to the UK too late as he tried to be seen as ‘one of the people’ when what Londoners really wanted was someone to show leadership.  

The Mayor’s only contribution to the debate was to call for a halt to government cuts in police budgets, forgetting perhaps that he had planned to cut the Metropolitan Police budget over the next three years himself. 

Kit Malthouse, the Deputy Mayor and Chair of the Police Authority tried to say that the official figures, which showed a drop in police officer numbers, were “changeable” and that he was “looking at ways of getting the funds” to maintain the current strength. Hypocritically, Johnston is in effect asking the government to increase police budgets to make-up for the cuts he has imposed on the Metropolitan Police.

When the former Mayor Ken Livingstone proclaimed on the disturbances his immediate response to the crisis was to engage in blatant politicking and opportunistic attacks on government cuts. He appeared stuck in the past and not just a little confused, blaming and praising Margaret Thatcher at the same time.  

“As when Margaret Thatcher imposed (government cuts)…this creates the threat of people losing control” he declared, although he offered no solutions other than, you guessed it, increase police numbers.  He later told the BBC “They should look back to the lesson of Mrs Thatcher.  When she went through the great recession in the early 1980’s, she knew what was coming, she recruited more police.” 

Personally, the only policy lessons I want to learn from Margaret Thatcher are what not to do and whatever damage she caused, clearly 13 years of Labour governments have been unable to rectify it.

What we saw over the past few weeks was a minority of rioters who were disaffected and angry, who felt they had nothing to lose.  The majority were criminal opportunists.  Some of the latter group enjoyed hurting people and destroying property, while others just wanted to steal things they wanted but could not afford.  They did it for so long and over so many parts of London because they believed they could get away with it.  The initial response to both groups should have been the same.

If I had been Mayor I would have been on the first flight back to London when the disturbances happened on the Saturday night in Tottenham and I would have been standing alongside the Commissioner of the Met the following morning backing strong police action against the rioters. 

As soon as I saw news coverage of looters rushing past police officers unimpeded, I would have called for the Met’s tactics to change to those later adopted successfully in Manchester, where rioters were arrested in the act.  I would have called a press conference of leaders from across London’s communities, giving the united message that this was hurting individuals, communities and local businesses and that those rioting were engaging in senseless acts of self-destruction.

Why would I have done this?  Because I have policed a riot before, because I have been trained to deal with riots before, because I have worked with communities that have rioted before and I have worked with community leaders to bring calm before. 

Until order was restored, that was the leadership Londoners wanted, the leadership both Johnson and Livingstone failed to provide, the leadership I would have provided.  In contrast, I was that day briefing the Deputy Prime Minister, when he was the most senior member of government in London, on the policing and community issues arising from these riots.

Of course there are underlying issues that need to be address now that order has been restored.  Johnson’s cuts to the police budget threaten Safer Neighbourhood Teams at a time when community policing is even more important.  We have to find savings from areas like senior police officers’ perks, to maintain frontline policing. 

We have to promote restorative justice programmes that make offenders realise the consequence of their actions for others.  We need to reform our education system so that it engages all young people from every background.  We need to provide an alternative to gangs where young people can feel wanted, supported, encouraged and mentored. 

And we must give everyone enough of a stake in society that they want to be part of it, not rebel against it, giving them a decent place to live and the opportunity to find work, for example. 

That’s why I want to be Mayor of London, so I can make a real difference.

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (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)

RECENT UPDATES

TfL proposes bus and tube cuts and annual fares increases to achieve long-term financial sustainability

London’s entire bus fleet now meets ULEZ emissions standards

New road layout comes into effect at Old Street roundabout

TfL funding enables creation of 2,000 new cycle parking spaces




Popular

1,700 extra Santander Cycles are coming to London’s streets

TfL confirms changes to Older Person’s Freedom Pass and 60+ Oyster card hours

TfL fares to rise in return for £1.6bn Government rescue package

Election for Mayor of London and London Assembly postponed until 2021

FEATURED

City Hall to move to Docklands as Mayor seeks to raise £55m for frontline services

‘Concern’ over TfL’s ability to deliver major projects in wake of Crossrail cost overruns

City Hall halts London Overground ticket office closures but many will still see opening hours reduced

Transport for London confirms bus cuts will go ahead despite passenger opposition

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 © 2021 MayorWatch Publications Limited · MayorWatch is Registered Trademark · All Rights Reserved · Contact Us · Terms of Use · Privacy Policy

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

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.