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.
Liam says
The Lib Dems will only succeed in splitting Labour’s vote. Without a strong UKIP, the Tories will not suffer the same fate. The Lib Dems should field no-one, and let Ken have the best shot he can at keeping Boris from the levers of power (got forbid!)
Pete says
It would be inherently wrong for the Lib Dems not to put up a candidate. Just fewer than 25% of people gave their votes to Simon Hughes at the last election, so why should those voters be disenfranchised this time?
There are hundreds of thousands people in London (and yes I am one) who would never vote Labour, given that party has taken us in to an illegal war, wants us all to carry ID cards and rather than deliver, engages in pointless gimmericky. Ken Livingstone is the Labour Party candidate and is certainly guilty on the third point. Nor would we ever vote for a buffoon like Boris.
If the Lib Dems put up Brian Paddick, I can understand why the Labour party will be worried. An ex police officer with liberal views, who has been in very senior positions in a large organisation with a vast budget and understands what makes London tick. People might fancy a change.
anon says
Let’s be honest, no matter when the Liberals picked a candidate they’d never win.
Their only interest in the Mayoral election is to use their candidate to get airtime to hoover up votes for the Assembly – especially the list votes which is there only realistic chance of getting any AMs elected.
Zone4Londoner says
The LibDem leadership would do their members a bigger favour by not wasting money on an election they can’t win.
They’d be doing Londoners a massive favour too by not splitting the left of center first preferences and ensuring Ken has every chance to beat Boris on first preference votes.