Congratulations to Cllr Duwayne Brooks who has been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Mayor of Lewisham. He will be challenging Sir Steve Bullock who has held the post for 11 years. The election will take place in May 2014.
Last year Mark Pack identified him on Lib Dem Voice as a Local Liberal hero. He charted Duwayne’s political career so far, which includes being nominated as one of Brian Paddick’s Deputy Mayors in the London Mayoral contest in 2012.
Duwayne has posted an open letter to the people of Lewisham on his website, in which he writes:
Last week was another proud and at the same time humble moment in my life. I was selected by Lewisham’s Liberal Democrat members, to become our Mayoral candidate for the coming May elections.
Like many in the Borough today, I believe the decade long stagnated reign of the present Mayor has been a disaster for Lewisham and should come to an end. Lewisham has sometimes hit the headlines for the wrong reasons. Too many of our residents are living without hope, jobs and for some in homes categorised as unfit. Lewisham deserves much much better.
…
Where I stand today, I cannot promise to fix all the problems created under this present Mayor. What I can promise is to do things differently. To not only have the residents of Lewisham at heart when making decisions, but to also recruit you to work for your council. Many of the senior staff here at Lewisham Council do not live in Lewisham and it shows.
Lewisham deserves better and I have been chosen to give you that opportunity next May.
* Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in Kingston upon Thames, where she is still very active with the local party, and is the Hon President of Kingston Lib Dems.
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14 Comments
This is great news. As a new Lewisham member I’m really looking forward to campaigning with Duwayne over the next year. He gave a really impressive hustings performance – as well as having a very well spoken of record as a local councillor.
Congratulations Duwayne!
This is great news and a testimony to Duwayne’s work and commitment to both the Community in Lewsiham and Liberal Democrats at both the local and national level It is now important that his election campaign is given maximum support His nomination also provides the Party with a new opportunity to demonstrate that it does have Black and Asian members capable of holding high office I would like to see London Region and HQ promote Duwayne as spokesperson via the media as much as possible
Many of us within the Party, and even more externally have recognized Duwayne’s abilities before and I for one see him as a star of the future. Duwayne’s experiences, and hence is knowledge and overall skill set are unique and he certainly has my total support in whatever direction he takes.
Although Lewisham is within Duwayne’s current sights, I would hope that the Party is aiming much higher for this inspirational individual.
This is indeed excellent news. I hope this puts him on course for future PPC and even Mayor of London candidacy.
This is wonderful news. Well done Duwayne!
Fantastic news – a new generation of Lib Dem leaders is being built.
Yes, well done Duwayne – there’s a whole lot of us out here rooting for you! On a nosey note – I would still be interested to hear about some of the discussion in that meeting with Nick Clegg. I remember it being “bigged up” by TV on the day, then it seemed to go very mysteriously quiet. Perhaps it was just me, and I missed it?
Good luck Duwayne !
Can we have such an inspirational person in Barnet too please. We have good people but we need a dedicated and higher profile leader for local Barnet Lib Dems in the 21st century. I know those already here will gladly be in support.
Excellent news! Congratulations Lewisham Lib Dems, and congratulations Duwayne!
Thanks Mary for linking to Mark’s ‘Local Liberal Hero’ political biography. It’s very inspiring!
I’m not a racist but… wouldn’t it be good to have someone who looks like him (or his sister) as Libdem candidate for Mayor of London?
This is great news for Lewisham. Well done Duwayne – I hope you get elected. 🙂
I heard Duwayne speak at the 2011 LD Local Government Conference in Bristol, I though he was excellent and good luck to him for the future