Rubbish in the paper

The Evening Standard has some great reporting and some much less great reporting.

In what is clearly a rushed piece to fill some pages in the lead up to the election the Standard has made at least two mistakes, firstly they say that I have a good chance of being Boris' race advisor. Interesting! I have not had any discussions with either Boris or anyone on his team about such a position, and I would have said no to the job even if we had.

I can only assume that the have assumed.

Secondly, and more seriously, they claim that my friend and colleague Bob Neill ran up a £4,000 taxi bill last year. The true figure was in fact £0.00.

Sloppy and lazy.

Final weekend of campaigning

I have spent the last weekend of the campaign flitting back and forth between the teams out campaigning across the two boroughs.

On Friday I was joined in Bexleyheath by Holly Watt of the Sunday Times, this earned me a mention in dispatches which you can read here.

Boris joined me on Saturday to visit Bromley, Orpington and Bexleyheath and I spent Sunday delivering leaflets on my own in the rain.

This is the side of politics which rarely gets reported.

Ooooops, Livingstone sees red

Well a "red man" anyway.

Someone has just sent me these two photos of Ken Livingstone completely ignoring a pedestrian crossing sign. And holding up traffic in the process.

Naughty, naughty!

Great quote by Livingstone

On Boris Johnson ..... "If I lost there would be a vacancy on the after-dinner speech circuit, so we would really just be swapping jobs"

Happy St George's Day

Tube union has Livingstone by the balls

As the saying goes, "If you've got them by the balls their hearts and minds will follow".

Reading a bit more detail about the proposed tube strike, that quote just popped into my head. I had originally thought Bob Crow had Livingstone on a leash, it looks like he has a more intimate means of control!

Until we have a Mayor who looks out for all Londoners and not just a narrow band of interest groups, we will keep seeing public money poorly spent after dirty back room deals.

Paddick and second preference votes

The Lib Dems don't believe their own spin. I have noted in the past how they can't even maintain their veneer for a few minutes.

Paddick's contortions while trying not to answer the "who should your supporters put as a second preference?" is another example of this. The simple answer should be:

"I intend to be in the final two candidates and as such it really doesn't matter who they put as a second preference because that vote won't count".

He and his team clearly haven't thought of that line because they don't really believe that he will be in the final two.

Tube union tugs Livingstone's leash

Ken Livingstone knows that he is in trouble in this election, the last thing he wants is a tube strike just before the polls. The RMT know this too. That's why they have threatened to strike.

They did the same thing just before the 2004 election. Did Livingstone stand up to the union and do what is right? No, he rolled over and let them call the shots.

The unions bank roll Livingstone's campaign and now they dictate his policies too.

London mayor and the interweb thingy

I have just read a very interesting article about the London Mayoral elections related web searches. Have a look yourself.

Boris is clearly generating more interest than the other candidates, poor old Brian is really struggling to get online attention. The funny thing is that both Paddick and Livingstone have bought in web expertise from the USA.

Boris on the other hand seems to be benefiting from a natural interest in him and his campaign, supported by his in house web team. For those of you wanting to hook up with Boris over the net you can join him on:

His website

Twitter

Youtube

Facebook

Go on, knock yourselves out.

Boris' bus "gaffe"

Some of the media are trying to make a big thing over Boris saying that a new fleet of modern routemasters would cost about £100 million. Boris was "caught" on film and posted on Youtube. This, they say, is much higher than the £8 million first announced and more in line with Livingstone's claims.

Rubbish!

Livingstone originally claimed that conductors on these buses would cost £110 million. Boris never claimed that he could replace a whole fleet of buses for £8 million, Livingstone has earmarked a budget for new buses and the new routemaster will be bought within that budget.

Buses are not conductors.

Labour still rotten to the core

Have a look at this link, it shows the Number 10 website linking directly to the Labour party website. They can't even tell the truth about what you find when you get there, a speech is not the same as an election pitch.

Gagged by my minders

I wish!

I have been very busy, as you can imagine, and what time I have had spare I have spent with my family.

I will try to keep some kind of blogging going over the next few weeks but I won't promise "usual service".

PS.

Vote Boris for a Greater London.

A kick in the balls

This is funny!

Click on the picture to play the game. Click here to read the background to this game.

The political betrayal of the army

I felt almost sick reading this blog post in the Telegraph about the breakdown in relationship between the British military and local Iraqi forces.

The short-termism in Gordon Brown's government has created a situation where the troops in Iraq can no longer do their job but are still at risk from daily attacks.

The appalling result of political triangulation means that Brown won't withdraw British troops for fear of upsetting our American allies but won't let the army do its job for fear of casualties. This limbo is demoralising and dangerous. For the Labour government to have squandered years the army's of "hearts and minds" work in Basra is disgusting.

We must not let the faltering economy and the local government elections lose sight of the terrible betrayal committed against the army. Men and women risk, and even give their lives in support of a government which doesn't understand them, care about them or support them.

TFL didn't like the findings of their own report

TFL commissioned transport experts at Kings College to look at the CO2 implications of Livingstone's flagship £25 congestion charge policy. They didn't like the answer.

The Kings College report said that the £25 charge would in fact increase CO2 in London, completely destroying the environmental basis for Livingstone's envy tax. Politically neutral TFL didn't like the sound of Livingstone being exposed like that so they told Kings College to go away and come back with a different answer!

Well, he who pays the piper calls the tune.

Boris' election broadcast

Use your vote

I was with Boris this morning at the launch of Operation Black Vote's post campaign. Ken Livingstone, Brian Paddick and Sian Berry were also there, as were a number of representatives from London's faith and community groups.

OBV's message was very clear, a low turn out will make it easier for the BNP to hit the 5% threshold that they need to get a seat on the GLA. ‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing’.

I can't stand the BNP and I would not like to have to work alongside one of their representatives, so please register to vote by the 16th of April and use your vote to stop their nasty, divisive, hate filled politics getting into London Government.

Thank you to Dave Hill (the hardest working blogger I know) for the photo.

Boris not being what the media want

Apparently Boris has been hiding away.

He has been hiding away all over London. In the last week he has hidden in the National Housing Federation hustings, a meeting of the Foreign Press Association, the Newsquest Editors Conference, with shoppers in a number of high streets, in an interview on London Greek Radio and at a visit to the Husseini Mosque in West London.

The national press are more than a little disappointed, clearly for two reasons. Firstly Boris isn't lavishing all his attentions on them and secondly he isn't making the much sought after "gaffes" that would reinforce the media stereotype of him.

This must be a huge disappointment for them. Headline like "Johnson working hard and taking election seriously" isn't very exciting is it?

Boris in Bexleyheath and Beckenham

Bromley two weeks ago, Bexleyheath this morning and then in Beckenham in the afternoon. Much of the press is speculating about an outer London strategy, I suspect that Boris has an alliteration strategy.

Boris and I were joined by many of our local volunteers at Bexleyheath station first thing this morning. We were saying hello to commuters on their way into central London and getting their opinions on local public transport provision.

We then went into Bexleyheath town center where Boris highlighted the policies that would benefit people living in outer South East London, his Mayor's Fund and announced plans to ban the drinking of alcohol on the tube. Bromley residents will be particularly pleased to hear him reaffirm his opposition to congestion charging in Bromley.

After a walkabout in Bexleyheath Broadway, we sat and spoke with local publicans about practical measures to stop binge drinking and drug dealing. The local pubs, council and police in Bexleyheath work closely and the result has been a huge reduction in problem drinking and an increase in food service and families using the pubs.

I highlighted the contrast between Livingstone's shrug of the shoulders attitude towards crime and Boris' positive, imaginative plans to make London safer.

The visit culminated in a second walkabout in Beckenham where we were once again swamped by local schoolkids. Between autographs for the children, local shopkeepers wanting a photo and interviews with the press we ended up missing the train to take Boris back to central London.

Spot the difference

"War torn" Basra

London