I just wanted to update everyone on where we stand with the Lib Dem campaign for Mayor.
I’m pleased to confirm that, having passed the selection procedure to be eligible to be on the short list, I will be standing in the selection of Lib Dem candidate for Mayor. I’m doing this for two reasons: Firstly, I want to see liberal policies put into practice in the nation’s capital. Secondly, I believe that I can help maximise our mayoral and list vote and, ultimately, have the best chance of winning.
Many believe that we cannot win this Mayoral election. They say that the latest polls put us in a similar position to where we ended in 2008. My advice to them is: don’t stand. I just don’t think we ought to be planning for failure. After all, it’s not just about whether we can win or not, it’s about what we are here for, what we offer and what we’d do if we do win this election. If we adopt a winning mentality, we’ll find new ways to get more votes. We can reach out to new sections of the voting public. In this election the votes of Central and Eastern Europeans, and young voters, offer the chance to gain hundreds of thousands of new Lib Dem votes . They’ll back us if we sell our ideas passionately, and show some self belief. I’m well positioned to maximise these votes. That will help us do well. I just haven’t got sympathy for any campaign that gives up before it’s even begun.
This time the polls show that we have better odds of taking second position. The latest results in London do not reflect the position in the national polls, with the gap between us and the second placed candidate looking unexpectedly narrow. In an “AV” election this means we have a hugely greater chance to win. If we can get into a situation where those who supported us in the general election believe that we can win it will be much easier to get them to the polling booth.
I have been a councillor and understand the mechanics of government. Obviously, I was also in Parliament for 13 years. But this is not enough on its own. The key is profile. We need that most of all. We need a candidate who is known by their first name. Profile is the key to ensuring that we are not ignored in this election. I’ll work hard to ensure that I am known, and – I hope! – liked by the electorate in London. I have continued to appear in the media widely over the past few months and will continue to push as hard as possible to maintain a high profile throughout this campaign. I know that this may cause issues in some sections of the party but I think it’s fairly obvious that a candidate with profile is the best way to maximise our vote.
I also have a strongly liberal agenda to articulate. It is founded on the profoundly important tenet of personal freedom. We need to reflect both “freedom from,” and “freedom to,” as the Liberal Democrat Party always has. Here are examples of the way this works.
Freedom from:
- Overbearing bureaucracy. Lots of politicians say this, but I’m thinking of real examples affecting real people. For example, I’ll work to end long telephone trees where you wait for ages just to be told the Council will get back to you sometime. I also think it’s a form of imprisonment to force people into facing mountains of paperwork when the just need a bit of help. Working with local authorities, I’ll create best practice and a streamlined approach to paperwork.
- State interference in your life. We can’t eliminate risk, so I’ll work with the police and authorities to make our freedoms a measurable value in the capital. Of example, it would be exciting to try a more sensible experiment with drugs policy where we treat drug addicts as patients, not criminals, and stop wasting police time on victimless crimes like cannabis possession for personal use.
- Poor health. I’ll work with the health authorities to make better health provision when you need it a reality. It’s been discussed fro so long,b at bureaucracy and a fear of insufficient management seems to be paralysing us from making it happen. I’ll take the risk and go for a health service where people who are passionate about making people better get to shape the health service according to their professional expertise.
- Traffic jams. I mainly use public transport but it’s insane that the city is virtually a car park of snarling traffic fro hours every weekday. I’ll work with the transport teams to make hold ups less common, and “dig ups” coordinated and shared by utilities so we don’ t all spend hours in jams.
- Being stranded at night in the centre. I’ll work to create a 24 tube service, working with, not against, the tube staff, which will cost a bit more but be a lot less hassle for London ‘s social classes. In fact, it could be the solution to Bob Crow’s reasonable concerns and the public’s reasonable requirements for better access to the centre.
Freedom to:
- Get rich: I’ll work to make London an enterprise zone where the rules allow true risk taking, and some failure is tolerated. I don’t like the replacement of state monopolies with private ones, which also squeeze the small trader out, and force a profit out of the system at the same time.
- Live an alternative lifestyle. I’ll end prosecution for trivial offences, which do not hurt others. We’ve got to end the stupid fashion of banning things on the basis of feelings rather than facts.
- Demonstrate. I’ll ensure that citizens have the right to express their views in a law abiding way outside parliament. How can we call ourselves a democracy when you can’t demonstrate outside it without a permit?
- Tell the Mayor what you want. I’ve a proven record of listening, acting and implementing the views of the public. I’m a fairly regular sort of person who gives a damn about what people want; My politics has never been driven by ego. I want people to feel well served and this is your best guarantee I’ll do that as mayor.
- Be inspired. I’ll generate a small fund for the most inspirational ideas, like the elephants, to create a vim and verve to the city, which makes it unique in the world. Some of what Boris has said is really good, and I’d hope to really put energy into this initiative – so you can truly see and feel the energy in the capital just as a resident.
It’s a bold agenda! Do you agree with it or would you like something more conventional? If you want to make a breath-taking improvement to life in London , then vote for ‘freedom for the city’.
I don’t know if I’ll win, but I know it’s a possibility – because I sense that my agenda is a winning one for the city. The home truth is that nobody else has a better chance of capturing the public imagination, causing opinions to be expressed, and winning votes than I have.
So that’s a summary of where we are, and it’s work in progress. This is going to be a campaign to make specific commitments, and ones I WILL keep, come hell or high water. I won’t promise something I can’t deliver or might have to change. So what I say is what I’ll do. We’re getting ourselves sorted out for now, but in a few months’ time everyone will know what “Lembit’s London” will look like. If you like it, I hope you’ll back it, and tell others. We’ve nothing to lose except our timidity!
Let’s have the courage to truly offer a uniquely inspiring agenda. For that you need to step outside the box and select someone who has proved my credentials as an outspoken, lively and creative leader. I’m a realist. I know what I can do. I hope when the time comes, the Lib Dems, and London , will give me the opportunity.
All the best for now,
Lembit Öpik
Anyone wishing to meet Lembit can come to the Lembit4London meeting, Monday 25 October at 7.00pm at the Three Stags (67 Kennington Road) Details are here on Flock Together.
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25 Comments
Mayor? Mayor of what? Silly me. I should’ve read to the fourth paragraph! There is a country outside the M25, and it has mayoral elections too, you know 🙂
” If we adopt a winning mentality, we’ll find new ways to get more votes. We can reach out to new sections of the voting public. In this election the votes of Central and Eastern Europeans, and young voters, offer the chance to gain hundreds of thousands of new Lib Dem votes ”
That say’s it all really doesn’t it.
Turn your back on the British nationals as their vote is as good as dead and useless to you, And instead concentrate on Central and Eastern Europeans.
I am not Racist, I am not a Bigot and I am not against Europe, but lets start having some politicians that want to fight for polices that are going to improve the Lives of British People, before we start giving even more hand outs to others please.
I agree with many of your policy points but won’t be supporting you. But as there is now a 12 month delay you have the chance to redeem yourself. Some suggestions
No appearing in Hello or anything similar with or without your girlfriend
No appearance on any celebrity programmes
No more stand up comedy
An explanation of how you lost one of our safest seats and what part if any your behaviour played
Be visible in London by elections. Have you been to Kentish Town or Ladywell? Were you in Tower Hamlets
Be serious, tell us whist your policies would mean, be on the Radio and TV defending the Coalition
Lastly explain why you walked out of Iain Dales radio programme half way through
http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2010/09/lembit-you-cannot-be-serious.html
On the day London Councils tell MPs that they are block booking B&Bs in small towns for 200,000 from low income households, in places with no chance of work or support services that have been built up here, how will you retain social & economic diversity across London that is one of the drivers of our creative city?
As the coalition government announces plans to sell off our treasured woodlands and forests how will you protect the green spaces so needed by all families and communities, both in the heart of the city and in easy reach by public transport?
How will you tackle the massive lack of understanding about healthy eating in a city with better access to fresh food than almost any other? Or encourage a less materialistic stance when we can ill-afford to be making & selling goods we don’t need?
I live in the heart of the East End, and i’m afraid your manifesto as set out above doesn’t fill me with hope.
I thought the party has strict rules about campaigning for positions like this? Don’t they apply to the candidate for London Mayor? Is Mr Opik allowed to do what he wants how he wants for the next 12 months?
I also thought we had strict vetting rules before people could be approved. Apparently not.
Tony Greaves
The latest poll puts the Lib Dem Mayoral candidate on 4%. It shouldn’t be able to get much worse but it could with Lembit.
The trouble is Lembit, people are laughing at you, not with you. Please give up on the politics.
As someone who was surprised he lost one oft he safest Lib Dem seats in the UK, your realy not well placed to use psychpbabble about self belief and campaigning and profile being the key to winning.
To be honest, I never had any doubt that your seat was under serious threat – I’m genuinely surprised you didn’t spot a few warning signs like the disallowed claim for the regular kinda guy £1000 telly.
A lot of people, on all sides, dont get why Mayoral contest are different. They are more like X Factor or The Apprentice than ordinary politics, one of the reasons so many of us are against the whole idea. In London we are stuck with it & either we adapt to the situation or we are irrelevant.
Millions think Boris & Ken are walking jokes but they still vote for them. This is one situation where being a “character” is an advantage & serious figures like Frank Dobson get nowhere.
@Matt
Matt – Take you at your ord when you say ” I am not Racist, I am not a Bigot and I am not against Europe, but lets start having some politicians that want to fight for polices that are going to improve the Lives of British People, before we start giving even more hand outs to others please.”
But you clearly have a very narrow definition of “British People”
Fact is a significant proportion of the residents of London are totally British. They were born here and in the many cases both or one of their parents were born here. They grew up in this ountry and work in this country thus contributing to the economy and welfare of our country. They do not however all have white British parents
So unless you have an objection to non white British residents of London you are way off the mark
@Rabi Martins
“So unless you have an objection to non white British residents of London you are way off the mark”
Why bring colour into it? I never mentioned anything about “White British Residents” as you put it.
My comments about have politicians that stood up for “British People” meant those British People with U.K Citizenship, is that so wrong?
Lembit Öpik said in his post
“In this election the votes of Central and Eastern Europeans, and young voters, offer the chance to gain hundreds of thousands of new Lib Dem votes”
Why is it so wrong for a British Citizen to complain about a Politician who wants to concentrate support from Eastern Europeans rather than from their home soil?
Is a British Citizen Racist for being offended that a politician suggests targeting the polish Voters rather than a U.K vote?
And please do not bring Race or colour into the argument, I never brought race,colour or creed into the argument, and it is very Disingenuous of you.
Because new immigrants and the young have just as much right to an opinion and a voice as someone who’s lived in London for 100 years. All opinions are equal, no matter if that opinion is spoken in a thick Polish accent or a Hackney one.
(Please merge with prior post if you can, thanks!)
That said, the combiniation of emotions I’m feeling as Lembit starts his campaign is interesting. Lembit’s a nice guy at the centre of it all, but as I’ve said on several prior occasions, that’s been badly mauled by a very long string of bad ideas on his behalf.
I’m not in Montgomeryshire (I’m in Ceredigion, the next constituency over) but Lembit lost the Monty election for a simple reason – he was too divisive, both internally but more importantly to the public. Monty is a (reasonably, and not in a bad way) socially conservative seat.
That said, if it came down to it I’ve no doubt that the Mayoral contest would be far funnier if Lembit stood.
Besides, at least Lembit never went onto I’m a Celeb!
@Huw ‘Besides, at least Lembit never went onto I’m a Celeb!’
Yet. Still time.
“The key is profile”, says Lembit.
Unfortunately Lembit’s own profile leaves a lot to be desired.
“I just wanted to update everyone on where we stand with the Lib Dem campaign for Mayor.”
Well, that’s really nice. It’s a shame though, those wretched LDV moderators must have edited out all mention of the possibility that anyone else might be involved in this campaign…
You have to laugh;
“My politics has never been driven by ego.”
and then he writes;
“but in a few months’ time everyone will know what “Lembit’s London” will look like.”
There is nothing in his article about what he learnt from losing one of our safest LD seats in the country.
How many elections does Lembit need to lose before he realises he has to go back to the drawing board and understand why people do not want to vote for him?
I think that Paul is right when he says “Mayoral contest are different. They are more like X Factor or The Apprentice than ordinary politics”. Lembit’s comments also state that profile is the key which I agree with. That might not be how we wish things were but that is how it is. If we want to move up from 4% in the polls we are going to have to have a candidate that people have heard of and an agenda. That’s why I am pleased to see Lembit starting to put some ideas forward.
Lutfur Rahman won last week in Tower Hamlets by a huge margin despite there being very divided opinions about him. This shows that the unexpected can happen in mayoral campaigns. We need to look at how the Lib Dems can put some pressure on Labour and the Conservatives. With Lembit we will get the media that we need to support our list candidates. He has shown commitment to this campaign for many months and I hope that the party backs him.
I like the manifesto. Not sure the 24 hour tube is achievable or affordable across the network but certainly on core central sections it’s a very good idea and one which would bring our transport system in line with elsewhere in the world.
I’m likely to support Lembit on the following conditions:
1. He gets involved in debates about London, spends more time campaigning in London, writes about London, uses his high profile in a positive way to show that he knows the city. Boris wasn’t from town, but he was very romantic about the place in his campaign – Routemasters, heritage, tradition, alongside being pro-city and pro-growth. He knew bugger all about Hackney, Haringey, Lambeth, Enfield, Waltham Forest, Brent, Havering, Barking and Dagenham, Sutton, Bexley etc…. but people still felt he knew the place.
2. Uses the profile positively, to show he means business. Any magazine interviews about dating underwear models should be out – interviews about his views and politics should be in.
3. Let the party know we can trust you. Realise why Montgomeryshire went wrong, realise that people do want a politician who knows the area, does his casework, spends time in the area, talks to residents and doesn’t seem on another planet.
A year’s a long time. Get campaigning now and prove you’ve got your heart and soul in London and members are more likely to back you.
Lembit is only really going to run into serious trouble if Simon Hughes, Vince Cable or Susan Kramer throw their hats into the ring,
The problem with Lembit is he is the political equivalent of Gavin Henson
Some people might think that a “colourful private life ….. well reported in the UK tabloids” is a disqualification for standing for London Mayor, but the quote is about Stephen Norris, and could equally well apply to Jeffrey Archer and Boris Johnson, both, like Norris, “serious” Conservative candidates for the job. All three had, of course, also been MPs only outside Greater London (though to be fair to Norris, after he was defeated in a general election, he was then returned for a seat bordering London).
It is true that Mayoral elections can be won by candidates who are seen as colourful rather than serious, so Lembit is a contender for the nomination as both colourful and serious. As the nomination is likely to be some time away, it is to his credit that he is opening his internal campaign so soon.
There is also the other strategy, adopted by the Greens, of accepting that the party won’t win the mayoral vote, but that a mayoral candidacy is a good springboard for number one on the list and maximises a party’s list vote. (Apologies to those outside (and inside) Greater London who don’t understand the system for electing the Greater London Assembly, which tends towards PR.)
Still working for the Iranian goverment’s Press TV, Lembit? How does that sit with “a strongly liberal agenda to articulate…founded on the profoundly important tenet of personal freedom”?
Also, seeing as you lost one of our safest seats as an MP, what makes you think you can make inroads in the much trickier London mayoral election?
This article answers neither of these two critical questions that cast a long shadow over your desire to be our candidate.
Lembit
Very surprised to see that you have not mentioned a very serious and key issue for many Londoners – Housing. Why not? Lack of affordable housing, in particular family housing, is one key concern that unites nearly all of the capital. Your pledge on the tube for example, while a good idea in principle, will be meaningless to vast swathes of London which are nowhere near a tube stop. And in these days of spending cuts, will this really be possible when there is already a 24 hour bus network?
Finally, while the Three Stags is a good pub, and Lambeth is a great place, it is in a London borough where there are no current by-elections. Why not hold a campaign meeting where there is a by-election on to encourage more people to come along and help beforehand? For instance, Kentish Town or Ladywell?
Rob Banks
Lembit, don’t worry about trying to attract Central and Eastern European votes: our party is not interested.
When I suggested printing letters for the May elections with voting-instructions in Turkish and Polish for my multi-ethnic ward in Haringey, north London, I was told it was “a waste of time”, and that we preferred the “broad-brush approach” (i.e. lots of Westminster-orientated copy that no-one in Bounds Green could understand).
We couldn’t even get the distinction between “G” voters and “K” voters right before the Euro-elections……….
@Michael
I basically agree with everything you say. One particular thing:
“I like the manifesto. Not sure the 24 hour tube is achievable or affordable across the network but certainly on core central sections it’s a very good idea and one which would bring our transport system in line with elsewhere in the world.”
I can’t comment about 24 hours, but when I lived in Stockholm in 2000/1 they were able to run their (albeit simpler) metro until 3am on weekends. How hard can it be for the greatest city on earth to have trains that run into the small hours?
@Rob: “Your pledge on the tube for example, while a good idea in principle, will be meaningless to vast swathes of London which are nowhere near a tube stop.”
Perhaps, but that doesn’t undermine the fact that it is a good policy that will affect a very large proportion of Londoners (which is more than we can say about the Olympics!). And unusually for politics, it’s not already part of every single candidates manifesto. A bit of avant garde thinking should be welcomed.
Interesting that he can’t be bothered to answer any of the points made here.
@ Huw “Besides, at least Lembit never went onto I’m a Celeb!” – looks like you spoke too soon!
As entertaining as Lembit can be he is a joke. He is not a Boris – people like Boris. (in my opinion they are barking , but the fact remains that people think he is a good guy). The same cannot be said for Lembit. The perception the public have of him is that he is someone you laugh at (if that), not with.
We need a high profile candidate, that is without question. I, however don’t think it would be aiming too high to get a candidate who is both well known and respected.
Lembit, please do yourself and the party a favour and drop out in favour of someone who doesn’t make the average party member want to hide behind the sofa!