John Redwood

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Lets have a Mayoral candidate who’s not a celebrity

I am fed up with celebrity politics. Ken Livingstone sums up  much of what I dislike about it. He struts the stage of London as if he were the Foreign Secretary creating a series of diplomatic nightmares with our friends. He seeks out an alternative set of heroes amongst the wilder regimes of the world.  He has said gratuitously unpleasant  things about the US President, the Prime Minister of Israel and the Saudi royal family, to say nothing of his infamous remarks about an Evening Standard journalist which offended many Jews at home and abroad.  He offers commentary on many things  he has no power to change.

He charms and woos the minority who like  an alternative voice, and infuriates all those of us who wish he would get on with the task of solving London’s transport shortage, water shortage, and housing shortage. We would also like him  to rein in his insatiable appetite for more of our money, and understand that his riotously high Council tax is one of London’s problems. It would  help if he came up with more positive ways of making the streets  safe for the law abiding. Opponents of Ken need to agree on a candidate who can win against him under the strange voting system, and who can immediately get on with sorting out the problems of London that are under the control of the Mayor.

People used to become celebrities because they achieved great things in their lives. The media took a strong  interest in their private lives once they had won Olympic gold, gained their Oscar, scored  for their national team, achieved high political office or written a great novel. Today, in the era of instant celebrity, you can become one by making a fool of yourself on a television programme, and then being prepared to stoop ever lower in the pursuit of notoriety. Ken knows how to burnish his celebrity status by saying outrageous things.

Celebrity status doesn’t necessarily bestow the talent to run the administration of London well. It proves to be very expensive for everyone else living in the city. Anyone who runs for Mayor with a decent chance of getting elected is going to get plenty of publicity on the way. There are many months left before the election, for a diligent candidate to press the flesh, have his or her say on local TV and radio, and gain some column inches.
 
As someone who cares about the future of London I am not looking for a big name, but for someone who has the skills, the dedication and the vision that is needed to tackle the manifold problems of London government after years of Livingstone. If there were a well known businessman or woman with a proven track record of relevant experience who wanted to run as an independent on a sensible platform that would be worth thinking about. It would show Conservatives  can put city before party.  As the Lib Dems want their day at the polls that looks impractical.

The Conservative party did not choose David Cameron as leader because he had a big name and huge following. We did not elect him because he was a celebrity, but because he is an intelligent well educated man dedicated to offering his country better government. We chose him because we thought his years in Whitehall and Westminster had prepared him, and the office  would give him the chance to make his name, as time has demonstrated.

The skills we should be looking for in  a good Conservative candidate for Mayor are the ability to understand the complex politics of the GLA , the  London boroughs and an over-centralising government in Whitehall, a feel for the relationship between the Lord Mayor of the City and the new Mayor of London, an ability to make decisions and get things done, the ability to deliver much more for less, an ability to cut the team down to a size that might work well, and then to motivate them to deliver. In short we need a skilled politician who  knows how to make and execute decisions using the advice of the official Mayoral machine and the Assembly. We do not want a rent a quote who likes empire building.

The obvious recruiting grounds are the London Assembly, the Boroughs and Parliament. A candidate needs experience of  London electors. It would help if our candidate either had been or still is a Councillor or an MP within the London area. They would know part of the electorate well. They would know the local organisations, and be used to the some of the local media.

It would be good if our candidate had a proven track record of delivering better service for less cost as a Leader or Committee Chairman in a Borough Council, or in some other elected office. It would be important that the candidate could devote large amounts of time in the year ahead to the task of wooing the electorate, researching and setting out a plan for sorting out London’s problems. I don’t mind what sex, race, creed or religion they are, but I do want someone competent.

In London people face three daily nightmares. Can I afford my housing, including the ever higher Council tax from Ken? Can I get to work and to all the places I want to visit without congestion, poor  parking or bad public transport delaying me? Can I walk the streets and travel the tube safely? Three crucial issues, which Ken does all too little to sort out.

Many Londoners would like a Mayor who talked less and delivered more. The new  Mayor needs to understand that if London is to maintain its position as a world city it needs more tube capacity and a better deal for the van and car driver. If London is to keep mixed communities in the centre it needs lower property taxes. The danger with Livingstone’s London is that to afford it – Council Tax, Congestion charge and property prices – you need to be a rich non domiciled property owner paying your income  tax at lower rates elsewhere. We have had more celebrity than we can afford in the last few years. Let’s have someone with less sense of theatre, and more knowledge of how to run a great city.