London Mayor election update

By Mark Pack | Mon 28th January 2008 - 11:24 pm

Evening Standard latest: Lee Jasper (aide to Ken Livingstone) admits £18,000 was improperly diverted. Police now investigating …
… and as Lynne Featherstone points out, that makes five police investigations into allegations of financial misdeeds at City Hall and the London Development Agency (LDA). As Lynne says, once again there are also question marks over whether their press operation has been telling the full story.
Political Betting casts reasonable doubt on the last YouGov Mayor poll (which put Brian Paddick on 8%, +1%): the sample size was just 240, which makes the margin of error +/- 6.5% – a very high figure. (This is the margin of error for the random sampling process; in addition there are other causes of error, such as a systematic bias in who is asked to take part in a poll.)
No-one has yet guessed the correct answer in my Boris Johnson tea cups competition. There is still time for you to beat the field.
And finally: slightly belatedly, there is this humorous sketch.

8 Comments

Immo Huneke 9th Feb '08 - 4:39pm

I would like to know where the LibDem candidate in the 2008 London Mayoral election stands regarding the national identity register. Will he resist pressure to withhold services from people who do not have an identity card? The government intends to make the “voluntary” scheme effectively compulsory by making it impossible to get a new passport, driving licence etc. without an ID card. If London refuses to play the game, it will be doing its citizens a great service.
Hywel Morgan 9th Feb '08 - 6:26pm

I don’t know what Brian has said specifically on that point but such a view would seem consistent with the stance we took in government in Scotland.

http://www.libdems.org.uk/noidcards/scotland.html
Alex Foster 9th Feb '08 - 8:13pm

Telegraph says:

Unusually for a former policeman, he is against ID cards and opposes the Government’s plan to extend detention without trial for terrorist suspects.
Asquith 9th Feb '08 - 8:20pm

Once again, Paddick comes across as the only convincing candidate. He actually will make the achievements Johnson talks about but can’t do. One thinks of Clegg vs. Cameron.
Furry Fred 28th Feb '08 - 9:55pm

I have, today been into London and used the Underground (Bakerloo and Victoria Lines)

I am 64 and have a walking problem, but to date am still able to use the escalators. However I found myself feeling very unsteady whilst on the escalator which made me wonder how much longer I can carry on like that. I don’t want to find out the hard way by coming a cropper whilst travelling on the very steep escalators

I realise that the DDA has the eternal rider of “reasonably practical” but the disabled access to the tube is extremely poor.

Can you please let me know what plans you have of making the Tube more disabled friendly so that London does more than just lip service to access for the disabled?
Derek Clifton 1st May '08 - 2:07pm

Poor old Ken has been sidelined by booming Boris but what a fun time Londoners – I am from Streatham – are likely to have when Boris gets his head of steam up and into full swing: Busses and tube rides will be free; the congestion charges blackballed; those bus lanes that run empty for 80% of the time abolished and an over-budget under performing group will, for a short time, at least, give us all a good laugh – before we cry!
K 1st May '08 - 5:50pm

Well done to Simon Hughes for saying exactly the right thing on the 2nd preference vote this morning: Brian 1, Ken 2. Let’s just hope members take the advice of the wise Lib Dem President before the polls close.
derek ashcroft 4th May '08 - 10:19pm

It would be nice if somewhere 2 days after the election to actually find some voting figures for the candidates. There was more than just Boris & Ken but nothing in the papers or on the wireless.