Category Archives: London

The Voice

Feat. Brian Paddick – preview of new London party tabloid

By The Voice | Mon 14th January 2008 - 6:59 pm

The Lib Dems’ Brian Paddick today launched his campaign to be elected Mayor of London – and the party has just taken delivery of its latest London-wide tabloid, designed to support his bid and the campaigns of the party’s GLA candidates. Want a sneak preview? You can download a PDF version here.

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The Voice

Paddick launches Mayoral campaign

By The Voice | Mon 14th January 2008 - 5:51 pm

Speaking at the launch of his Mayoral Campaign in Brixton Town Hall, Liberal Democrat Mayoral Candidate Brian Paddick pledged to put cutting crime in London at the heart of his bid to win the mayoral race.

Brian Paddick was accompanied by Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg as he outlined his key priorities for London: cutting crime by 20% during first term or stand down, chairing the Metropolitan Police Authority to hold the Metropolitan Police Service to account for its performance in reducing crime, increasing reliability of Tube and Bus, changing Oystercard to enable unlimited travel within 1 hour and using money spent on temporary accommodation to build new permanent ‘social housing.’

A new website has been launched at www.brianpaddick.org

Paddick said, “I have a track record of performance against Londoners’ number one concern: crime. Ken Livingstone has said he cannot do anything about gun and knife crime. I will make tackling crime in the capital a priority. I will cut crime in London by 5% every year over the course of my first term in City Hall. If I fail to reach my target after four years, I will not stand again.”

This is our uncritical cut’n’paste of an official launch mailing. We’re sure our readers will be critical in the comments below.

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Mark Pack

Why does Ken Livingstone need three times more press officers than Gordon Brown?

By Mark Pack | Mon 14th January 2008 - 11:14 am

This morning is the official launch of Brian Paddick’s London Mayor campaign, along with his new website. The headline story from Brian’s launch is his crime-fighting pledge:

“I will cut crime in London by 5% every year over the course of my first term in City Hall. And I will take personal control of ensuring this target is met by chairing the Metropolitan Police Authority. If I fail to reach my target after four years, I will not stand again.”

But this snippet also caught my eye:

The number of press officers working under the Mayor’s control is approximately three times bigger

…

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Stephen Tall

ITV London mayoral debate: open thread

By Stephen Tall | Thu 10th January 2008 - 9:53 pm

The London mayoral contest is hotting up, and tonight ITV1 broadcasts a debate at 11.05 pm (London only; or Sky channel 993), with Lib Dem contender Brian Paddick, and the Tory and Labour candidates, Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone.

The London Evening Standard previews the debate here, reporting that:

Brian Paddick looked and sounded the part. He relied on notes but was polished. He ably deflected questioning of his “softly, softly” approach to cannabis possession while Lambeth borough commander.

He boasted about not being a career politician yet appeared as slick as the best. If TV debating is less about

…

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Mark Pack

How close did Brian Paddick come to being the Conservative London Mayor candidate?

By Mark Pack | Mon 26th November 2007 - 8:04 am

That, and other questions, are answered in his Q+A session with The Independent, published today.

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Stephen Tall

‘Rocket Man’ Brian attracts Elton’s backing

By Stephen Tall | Thu 15th November 2007 - 8:38 am

Sky News’s Jon Craig has the exclusive:

Brian Paddick, the controversial former top cop chosen by the Liberal Democrats as their candidate for London Mayor, is being backed by rock legend Sir Elton John. …

Revealing his celebrity backing from the superstar whose hits include “Rocket Man”, Paddick told me: “Before I got the nomination, I got a text from David Furnish (Sir Elton’s partner) saying ‘We’ll support you’.” He says there has been no pledge of financial support so far. But I’m sure big-spending Elton can afford to donate a few bob to a political campaign.

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Stephen Tall

Brian calls on Blair to quit

By Stephen Tall | Wed 14th November 2007 - 11:42 am

Lib Dem London mayoral candidate Brian Paddick has called on Ian Blair, the under-fire head of the Metropolitan police, to quit.

There were some eyebrows raised a couple of weeks ago, when Brian stopped short of calling on his former police colleague to step down in the wake of the Met’s conviction by the courts for endangering the public over the fatal shooting of innocent Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes. Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg had already called for Sir Ian’s head.

But the former deputy assistant commissioner is quoted now as saying: “I reluctantly …

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As Ken and Tories go to war over London bus passes where are the LibDems?

By Martin Hoscik | Mon 11th December 2006 - 7:51 pm

This week has seen Mayor of London Ken Livingstone and Conservative Assembly Member Roger Evans trade harsh words over the policy of free bus travel for the capital’s youth.

Commenting on his blog Evans said if the eventual Tory Mayoral candidate solicited an opinion he’d recommend axing the scheme. Livingstone responded to the comments by penning an article on Comment is Free and issuing a press release.

Evans in turn wrote a rebuttal for Conservative Home and took his point of view to the wider public with a Comment is Free entry of his own.

Looking at their

…

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The Voice

London Region Exec Committee elections

By The Voice | Thu 23rd November 2006 - 10:03 am

The results of the London region elections can be found at:

http://libdems4london.org.uk/news/667.html

If you know of election results in other regions, do e-mail [email protected]

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The Voice

Vote now: Should the Lib Dems next London Mayoral candidate be an MP?

By The Voice | Wed 22nd November 2006 - 2:09 pm

City HallIn 2000 Susan Kramer (not an MP at the time) was crushed by Ken Livingstone. 2004 saw Simon Hughes MP receive the same treatment.

The latest Lib Dem Voice poll asks whether the party should front one of its growing band of London area MPs (Susan Kramer, Simon Hughes, Ed Davey, Paul Burstow, Tom Brake, Lynne Featherstone, Sarah Teather, Vince Cable) or use the opportunity to promote a grass-roots campaigner / peer / councillor / random other.

Please vote, and if you feel so inclined, do give your reason in the comments box …

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