Few will have been surprised at yesterday’s news that Boris Johnson has emerged as the Tory party candidate for Mayor of London though claims by Tory HQ that the other three candidates represented a real choice for Londoners seem hollow given the size of Johnson’s victory.
What is undeniable however is that Johnson’s selection represents the start of the Mayoral election with the only two likely victors now in place.
However the Liberal Democrat candidate will not be announced until November, a decision the party are certain to come to regret.
With a slate of almost unknown candidates with little credible chance of unseating Ken or beating Boris the party will struggle to make up for lost airtime and coverage especially in the national and mainstream London media who will inevitably focus on the Ken and Boris show.
LibDem members in London should be asking why their party bosses have forgotten the campaigning advantage enjoyed in 2000 when their candidate Susan Kramer was the first to be selected by a major party.
