Tag Archives: brian paddick

Opinion: Crime, transport and the battle for London Mayor

By Paul Haydon | Published 10th February 2012 - 11:30 am

Just six months ago today London was emerging from its third night of rioting, with a semblance of order only just beginning to take hold as a massive police presence descended on the city. The fear in the streets was palpable. We had been given a brief and terrifying glimpse of what sheer anarchy looked like, the rage and shameless opportunism of London’s marginalised youth provoking deep existential questions about what was wrong with our society.

Yet, as the contest for London Mayor begins to build up momentum, Ken and Boris’ campaigns continue to revolve around the same old topic …

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LibLink: Brian Paddick – London is increasingly policed by force not consent – thanks to its mayors

By Nick Thornsby | Published 9th February 2012 - 5:17 pm

Lib Dem London mayoral candidate Brian Paddick had a piece on the Guardian’s Comment Is Free website yesterday on what is his undoubtedly his strongest issue – policing.

Here’s a sample of what Brian had to say:

Crime will be far more of an issue in the election of the mayor of London on 3 May because the mayor is now the elected crime and police commissioner for London. He alone sets police priorities and the police budget and he alone will hold the Metropolitan police to account. Far from holding the police to account, to date

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London Liberal Democrats – helping those with the smallest pockets get to work

By Caroline Pidgeon | Published 17th January 2012 - 2:52 pm

Last week Brian Paddick and I launched a fairer fares package ahead of this year’s London Mayoral and Assembly elections.

Boris Johnson has been Mayor of London since 2008. In just four years he has increased the cheapest bus fare from 90p to £1.35 – and he had planned to raise fares even further until the Coalition Government stepped in and helped limit the rise. As well as bus fares, the cost of travelling on the Tube, the Docklands Light Railway, the Croydon Tramlink and the London Overground have all soared under Mr Johnson’s mayoralty.

Of course there …

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London Lib Dems hit out at Boris’s fare hikes as “shameful”

By The Voice | Published 3rd January 2012 - 11:25 am

London Lib Dem mayoral candidate Brian Paddick and leader of the London Lib Dems Caroline Pidgeon have criticised Boris Johnson’s 7% price hike for public transport fares which came into force today. Here’s the party’s official statement:

Commenting on the Mayor’s 2012 fare rises being introduced today Brian Paddick, the Liberal Democrat Mayoral candidate said:

“Once again we start the year with another painful fare package from Boris Johnson. For the fourth year in a row he has racked up fares by far more than the rate of inflation.

“His latest rises will simply add to the financial problems

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Opinion: The Lib Dem leadership’s attitude to the Police Commissioner elections is baffling!

By David Hennigan | Published 15th November 2011 - 2:15 pm

“Liberal Democrats – soft on crime” was the headline that has often screamed off Labour leaflets over the last decade. Indeed, in the latter stages of the 2010 General Election, Labour strategists used that message to squeeze the Liberal Democrat vote when we were on 29%.

Looking at the partial, last-minute collapse in our vote, it’s difficult to argue that this line of attack didn’t work. The ‘soft on crime’ attack was used against us in the Oldham East and Saddleworth By-election. Labour’s Christmas Card to constituents in Oldham even featured a snowman with a police …

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The Politics Show on gay blood donations

By Mark Pack | Published 23rd September 2011 - 1:58 pm

During Liberal Democrat Conference, the BBC’s Politics Show did a piece about the gay blood donor ban (partly lifted but with Lib Dems calling for further steps). It featured both Liberal Democrat Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone and London Mayor candidate Brian Paddick:

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The message that won the Mayor selection for Brian Paddick

By Mark Pack | Published 7th September 2011 - 12:55 pm

Neil Stockley, one of the best Liberal Deomcrat commentators when it comes to messaging and presenting a coherent narrative, has taken a look at the message which propelled Brian Paddick to victory in the London Mayor selection contest:

Liberal Democrat selection campaigns for London mayor are strange beasts, as the party seeks out a mega-campaigner who can rally the troops and pull in more assembly members by his/her coat-tails.   This time, the dynamics were mixed up even more by the entry into the race of the former Montgomeryshire MP, Lembit Opik.  (Lembit had a defeat narrative in which he compared

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Brian Paddick selected as Liberal Democrats’ London Mayoral Candidate for 2012

By Helen Duffett | Published 2nd September 2011 - 7:27 pm

Jonathan Fryer, Chair of London Region Liberal Democrats emails party members in London with the news:

The count has just been completed in the ballot for the Liberal Democrat London Mayoral candidate for 2012.

The selection contest turned into a really close race, reflecting the excellent choice of candidates London members were presented with.

I would like to congratulate Brian Paddick warmly on his victory, and all of us at Team London look forward to working with him and our GLA candidates over the next eight months to ensure the best possible result in May.

Brian Paddick, Liberal Democrat Mayoral Candidate for 2012

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Brian Paddick interviewed in the Guardian

By Nick Thornsby | Published 17th August 2011 - 9:08 am

The Guardian’s ‘Saturday Interview’ last week featured as its subject Liberal Democrat mayoral contender and former Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick.

Unsurprisingly, much of the interview concerns the recent riots and the police reaction to them, but Brian’s political ambitions are also covered.

Here’s an excerpt from the piece:

Four years retired, Paddick remains remarkably relevant to the Met’s current predicament. The grandson of a policeman, he climbed the ranks to become commander of Lambeth, south London, where he famously initiated a pilot in which officers cautioned, rather than arrested, those in possession of cannabis. Despite falling victim to untrue tabloid

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LibLink | Brian Paddick: Police must show there is no bias against black people

By NewsHound | Published 10th August 2011 - 2:55 pm

Former deputy assistant commissioner of the Metroplolitan police, and current contender to become the Lib Dem candidate for Mayor of London, Brian Paddick has written for The Independent on the need for our law-enforcers to re-earn the trust of the capital’s balck community. Recounting his own experiences of policing London on the front-line over the decades, Brian writes:

I was a sergeant on the streets during the 1981 Brixton riots. Together with 10 officers hiding behind our plastic shields, we became the focus for community hatred, pelted with bricks and broken paving slabs. The police and the community tried to rebuild some kind of relationship – it took a long time. Twenty years later I became the police commander there. After 15 months, when I was moved out of Brixton, there were protests – it had been quite a turnaround from 1981. Do the people of Tottenham have to wait 20 years for the weekend’s scars to heal?

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Tune in to Iain Dale’s Lib Dem night tonight on LBC, featuring Nick Clegg, Simon Hughes and others

By Nick Thornsby | Published 8th August 2011 - 4:54 pm

Iain Dale returns to his evening show on London’s LBC radio tonight with a Lib Dem special. First up is a live Q & A with deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, followed by interviews with a whole host of prominent Lib Dems, including three of the four London Mayoral hopefuls as well as deputy leader Simon Hughes.

Here’s the schedule in full from Iain’s blog:

6-7pm Live Q & A with LibDem leader Nick Clegg
7-7.30pm Interview with Nick Clegg (tbc)
7.30-8pm Reaction to Clegg with Lord Oakeshott, Susan Kramer & Jo Phillips
8-9pm Meet the LibDem London Mayoral Candidates – Brian Paddick, Brian

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Opinion: London Mayoral hustings, Round 2

By Simon McGrath | Published 31st July 2011 - 4:27 pm

Having been to the London Mayoral hustings last week in Wimbledon (and written about it for LDV) I thought it would be interesting to go to the official hustings last night in central London to see how (or if) the candidates had changed. I don’t know if it was the different audience or the extra week and taking on board the various comment people made but all four candidates made better speeches and all seemed more confident of why they wanted to represent us.

By far the most improved was Lembit Opik. I could see why he has had …

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Opinion: Mayoral Hustings – Twists and turns and four good horses

By Richard Clare | Published 30th July 2011 - 3:54 pm

I’ve never been to such an event before so I didn’t know what to expect. Regardless, I made it to the Hustings in Kings Cross, the first ‘proper’ Hustings as I think the Chair described it.

Mike Tuffrey gave the first speech. It was fairly standard: he outlined his experience on the GLA and said that if he won the nomination, it would be his 14th election. “My 13th election wasn’t unlucky for me, in fact it was my best to date.” he said, naming a few impressive percentages the Lib Dems had got in the last London Assembly elections …

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Update on the latest twists and turns in the contest to become the Lib Dem candidate for Mayor of London

By Stephen Tall | Published 23rd July 2011 - 8:15 pm

It’s been a fascinating — and characteristicaly bizarre — last 48 hours in the contest to become the Lib Dems’ London mayoral candidate.

There was the first hustings, reported here on LDV by Simon McGrath, which attracted comments from Brian Paddick, and some robust thoughts from Lembit Opik’s campaign manager Ed Joyce.

Further controversy was sparked by Peter Black’s blog-post yesterday, Lembit Öpik and the rewriting of history, highlighting a paragraph in Lembit’s manifesto which attributes his defeat in Montgomeryshire ‘to the incident in which Mick Bates drunkenly assaulted a paramedic in January 2010, which became …

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Opinion: Verdict from the first Mayoral Hustings – it’s a two horse race

By Simon McGrath | Published 21st July 2011 - 3:27 pm

Merton Lib Dems Mayoral candidate hustings
Photo: Mayorwatch. See also @mayorwatch‘s live tweets from last night’s event.

Merton Liberal Democrats held the first hustings of the London Mayoral selection last night with all four candidates addressing an audience from Merton and surrounding constituencies.

I had never met or heard any of them before but the one speech I was expecting to enjoy was Lembit’s. I thought that I would be drawn to him despite myself but the reality was frankly disappointing. He was the …

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