Ken Needs To Reach Out To Lib Dems

Ken Livingstone needs to make more effort to reach out to Lib Dems if he wants their second preference votes in the London Mayoral contest. And that's what I told him in no uncertain terms in a dramatic face to face confrontation on the Kilburn High Road last weekend (see photo).

A recent Ipsos Mori poll put Ken Livingstone slightly ahead of Boris Johnson when second preferences are counted, but only by 2%. If the election is that close, then the second preferences of Lib Dem voters will be crucial. An earlier ICM poll suggested Livingstone and Johnson were neck and neck, but that a majority of Londoners planning to vote for Lib Dem candidate Brian Paddick would give their second preference vote to Johnson.

Livingstone was campaigning in Kilburn when he bumped into a group of Camden Lib Dem councillors taking part in a memorial walk for our late colleague Jane Schopflin to raise money for her favourite charity Shelter. I persuaded the Mayor to make a donation to the housing charity and then attacked him for not doing enough to win over Lib Dem second preferences.

I think it's fair to say that onlookers watched amazed as I took on one of Britain’s most formidable politicians. “It would be a disaster if Boris Johnson was elected because you are not reaching out to Lib Dems,” said I, “and it would be particularly disastrous for the environment.” “I’ve tried,” replied Livingstone, “We – Labour, the Lib Dems and the Greens – have much more in common than any of us do with the Tories.” “Well you need to try harder,” I told him.

I’m horrified by the thought that an extreme right winger like Boris Johnson might be elected. But the fact is that at the moment there are too many Lib Dems who don’t trust Ken and who think he’s been Mayor long enough. I’m voting for Brian Paddick because I think he’s the best candidate, but I’ll be voting for Ken second because he’s done so much to make London a more environmentally friendly city.

Boris Johnson opposed the Kyoto Treaty on climate change, and he opposes the £25 charge on large engines coming into London. He’s been a vociferous supporter of the Iraq War and George W Bush. He opposed paternity leave, the minimum wage and supported rail privatisation. The Mayor of London is one of the most powerful jobs in the UK, but the only thing Johnson has run in his life is The Spectator magazine and that became a byword for sleaze during his watch as editor. He was fired from the Tory front bench for lying and from The Times for making up quotes in his columns. When you look at Johnson’s shameful record and his appalling views I really think Lib Dems have a duty to hold their noses and put Ken second on the ballot behind Brian Paddick.