Lembit Opik’s plans to run for London Mayor have been widely trailed for some time and the man himself has taken steps such as a lengthy interview on London’s LBC radio station with Conservative blogger Iain Dale. His campaign for the Liberal Democrat selection has provoked many negative responses from Liberal Democrat members (such as in previous coverage on this site). The most vocal are not always the most representative, however, so a relevant extra piece of evidence is how the Lembit Opik for London Mayor Facebook page does.
Lembit’s own campaign describes the page as “the main point of contact for those involved in the campaign to win the nomination of the Liberal Democrat Party”.
So far, it has 9 fans on Facebook. How quickly and how far that number grows will give a good clue as to how much support there is for Lembit’s Mayoral bid.
A good first milestone may be to beat the 15 fans of Pink Dog for Mayor 🙂
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25 Comments
This is an embarrassment we could do without: what we need is an ‘anyone but Lembit’ campaign!
Aye, Chris, I suspect Opik is the sleeper agent from the Elders of Capel Seion.
~alec
As amusing as Lembit is I would rather not have him running for such a high profile position.
He ceased being an amusing buffoon in my eyes when he joined PressTV.
~alec
A high profile position deserves better than a Liberal Democrat candidate who embarrassed his constituents to such a degree that they voted him out with an enormous swing against what had for decades been a safe seat. Anyone but! Floella Benjamin has been suggested; surely she has a good public profile, why not her?
LOL, I bet this is what the tories all said about Boris. Well, maybe they were right, but someone people have actually heard of might actually work, you know, unlike all the times before.
Joe – I can see what you mean, but those doing the work in the constituencies need to be able to be enthusiastic about their candidate……
@mark – you made a mistake in publicising his Facebook page. It now has 160 fans!
Doesn’t Lembit understand that he is a liability…
Lembit has just lost a previously safe Lib Dem seat in Wales.
Surely he must realise he is not cut out for a career in politics.
Thanks for letting us know! After the last disastrous mayoral campaign it is clear we need a high profile politician.
Ian Hislop?
This shows how ridiculous is the directly elected executive mayor system. We see names getting put forward not because they have demonstrated any competency for the job, but because they have a public recognition factor. The best person we ever put forward was Susan Kramer, because she did actually have the technical background required for the job. However, it looks unlikely we will do something as sensible as that in the future, this stupid system demands instead we put forward people who have pretty faces, loud-mouthed personalities, and whom the punters may vaguely remember having seen on the telly. What a shambles!
Of course, Ken Livingstone would never have made it to Mayor had he started his political career under this system. People thought enough of him to vote him in after they already knew him as Leader of the GLC, but he got to that position as an unknown. He has a lot of faults, but was reasonably competent. Now the mayor system cuts out competent people rising through the ranks and gaining experience getting there. What a shambles!
Idiots in the media keep telling us that the executive mayor system is an example of “spreading power”. The Guardian keeps saying it, the Economist last week said it, but how can any sane person say that? Irt’s taking power from a representative assembly and giving it to one person. Isn’t that quite obviously centralising power and not spreading it? Isn’t it even worse when it cuts out ordinary people from the chance and imstead promotes celebrity over competenmcy? What a shambles!
The Conservative-LibDem coalition agreement had buried in it that it would move more cities to this ridiculous system. What a shambles!
I thought that brian paddick was really good, just unfortunately the political circumstances of the time made it very diffficult for us, sadly, I fear they may again this time! I take the points above but still feel someone with a bit of profile is needed. However, that person is NOT Lembit!
For God sake stop it now! We’ve got enough on our plate as it is. He is a classic example of
of show business for challenged people. Bring back Paddick.. anything……….
Please Lembit announce immediately that you have reconsidered and will not try to win the Lib Dem nomination/. We live in serious times – we can’t afford this distraction – it makes the whole party look plain daft.
Lembit is immensley talented, but that fatal flaw ….
SmCg: I think you’re looking at a different Lembit page? The one linked to from my post (which is the one specifically about his Mayor bid) still has the same number of fans as when I posted it – rather to my surprise, because I thought publicising it might bump up the numbers a bit as a side-effect.
Mark P – I just followed the link and it says “163 People like this”…..I am not sure if you are counting something else but I assume that is what SmCg was referring to.
Since I am now commenting, I may as well add my views. I have a lot of time for Lembit who I think is immensely talented but I just don’ t think he will be taken seriously, having basically fallen over the line so carefully trod by other characters such as Boris and Charles Kennedy into “figure of fun”. It is also clear that he won’t win the selection because the activists gave a firm view when rejecting him for president. That said, I really want to see the party try to find to channel his energy into something useful…. and give him a chance to rebuild in a more low profile way.
I liked the suggestion of Caroline Pigeon put forward on the previous thread and also think that going with the head of the list for the Assembly would be a great way to say that we value competence and hard work over celebrity.
I think Matthew is too pessimistic. Our problem is not the choice of Mayor but the reality of the two party squeeze in the capital which forces people to want to think of eye-catching candidates to try to get over the issue…
Mark G: ah yes, quite right. My mistake for doubting SmCg; it was me looking at the wrong data and yes, the number of fans has gone up as a result of publicising the page.
I think Lembit appears far too interested in celebrity to be taken seriously as a candidate. We should start lobbying for Susan Kramer. If she had been in one of the two main parties at the first mayoral contest, she would have walked it, in my opinion. If we want to show ourselves as serious about the London mayoral elections, she is be the best candidate we could put up.
To Mark G
If out mayoral candidate is also head of the list for the assembly that will be portrayed as an admission that we don’t expect to win the mayoralty
We’ve been over this. It wasn’t a safe seat and there wasn’t some huge swing “against” him. The boundaries got changed so his constituency included a new area with no Lib Dem presence, and the anti-Labour backwash went in favor of the Tories. A sad loss but not an embarrassing one.
@Andrew Suffield
You will have to point me in the direction of something convincing, I must have missed it. Since 1880 the Montgomeryshire seat was Conservative but once, 1979-1983. Even at the height of the Thatcher era, the seat was Alliance/Liberal Democrat. I believe you apologise too much for him. Lembit Opik is an intelligent man and a liberal, but, sadly, also a busted flush. He needs to retire from front line politics. He certainly would have no credibility as a London Mayoral candidate. I speak as someone born and reared in Northern Ireland, who has spent time resident in Wales, now a longtime London resident and someone previously married to someone born in Estonia. I ought to have sympathy for Opik. I do. I am sure he will find a successful career, just not as a people’s tribune.
Lembit is a prat and an embarrassment to the Lib Dems! This publicity seeking fool should not be allowed to be the Lib Dem candidate for Mayor of London. Should he ever win (which can’t possibly ever happen) he’d turn London into Vegas. How about Floella Benjamin? Hasn’t she declared she’s considering being put forward?
As a number of other posters have pointed out the Lembit for London Facebook group has 184 members rather than the 9 suggested by Mark. This suggests a significant challenge for the Lib Dem nomination from the Lembit for London team is being put together.
I believe that Lembit is a strong candidate for mayor for the following reasons.
1) He has been a party member for a long time and is acknowledged by supporters and opponents to be a true Liberal.
2) Lembit has come through the party through the councillor route and has committed himself to it over a long period, for example producing training material.
3) Lembit wants to be the Lib Dem candidate, declaring his interest a long while in advance of any other candidate. He will fight a hard campaign if nominated by the party.
4) With Lembit there is at least an outside chance we could win – there could be an upset. The latest odds are 22-1, it’s a long shot but winning is possible.
http://www.online-betting-guide.co.uk/news/18225569/Boris+Johnson+Could+Be+Vulnerable+In+Mayor+Of+London+Betting+Odds+.html
I believe that we need a candidate who has electoral experience and is known by the public and then we will have someone behind whom a winning strategy can be constructed. This is necessary to motivate the Lib Dem members and activists to commit time to the campaign.
Ed Joyce