|
Sketch: Lib Dem mayoral hustings
Sam Macrory
As fringe events go, the first hustings for the Lib Dem mayoral candidate was a sell out. Those delegates who were forced to sit cross legged at chairman Susan Kramer's feet could count themselves lucky - many other card carriers were turned away at the door.
While the party hierarchy had failed in its attempts to woo big names to fly the Lib Dem flag in the capital, it has managed to coax in the impressive former Met deputy commissioner Brian Paddick.
Pre-hustings talk was centred on how Paddick - who made his name with a series of headline-making approaches to tackling crime in London - would perform, and he will leave Brighton confident that he has stolen a march on his rivals.
Describing himself as an "undercover Liberal Democrat" during his time in the police force, Paddick found a well-balanced line between self-deprecating humour and a sharp attack on the tenure of mayor Ken Livingstone.
At ease on the stage, and during the Q&A session that followed, Paddick promised that he would not allow the egos and celebrity status of Ken and Tory candidate Boris Johnson to squeeze him out of the contest, and vowed to fight for the airtime to promote the third party's polices.
Promising to be an "all-zone mayor not a zone one mayor", Paddick labelled public transport in London a "disaster" and made the call for "more fully trained, fully equipped police officers on the streets".
The hustings had been opened by the extraordinarily youthful looking Chamali Fernando, the self-styled "young, fresh and unspun" candidate.
Fernando, a barrister by trade, does not do humour, in fact she seemed wary of breaking into a smile at all.
Clearly driven, she expects the same of her colleagues. "If there is negativity in the barracks, let us find it, grab it and bin it" she cried with clenched fist, to a roar of approval from the party faithful.
While uncertain initially at her clinical style, the crowd slowly took to Fernando - who promised to "look and sound different" - and her rampant enthusiasm for the role.
Her priorities, she said, would be to "unlock the 91,000 vacant homes across the capital" and create a "safer, greener system of transport". But while her policies were clearly outlined, whether she possesses the gravitas to take on the established big beasts of Ken and Boris is less certain.
Seemingly the intellectual heavyweight of the three, Fiyaz Mughal, chief executive of Enfield citizens' advice bureau, was quick to talk up his London roots, and delivered a similarly dry summary of why he should be the mayoral candidate.
So detailed was his pitch, poor Fiyaz was forced to abruptly cut short his rallying cry as Kramer vigorously enforced the five-minute speech limit.
Calling for a London based on "three things - fairness, social and financial equality and most of all social justice", Mughal's speech, littered with rhetorical questions, was rarely broken by the spontaneous bouts of clapping that accompanied the efforts of both Fernando and Paddick.
While his answers demonstrated a deep-thinking approach, on this first showing he lacked the charisma and wit to take on either Livingstone or Johnson. The former, he said, had built up a "certain contempt", both for members of the public and the London Assembly.
But while Mughal's promise to create a "united London of core values" saw him close the Q&A session with a hitherto undisplayed passion, the crowd were left non-plussed.
|
Published: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 17:23:42 GMT+01
Submit Comment
|
| Name |
|
| Email |
|
| Location |
|
| Comment |
|
|
Remember Me |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
