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.

UPDATE: The Guardian’s Michael White blogs his thoughts on Brian’s campaign launch here. Here’s an excerpt:

How did he do in his first formal foray in politics? Much as you’d expect. His speech was too long (about 30 minutes) and he packed too much in – talking about transport and housing needs, to show he’s not a one-trick crime pony. He issued a text of the speech to the media, then did not stick to it. But all these problems are fixable, and he will learn the hard way what works and what doesn’t.

Overall, he struck me (I’d never previously heard him) as smart and personable. Not talking like a politician is refreshing, though he says things he may regret, but not sounding like a pro has its advantages, too. He was voter-friendly in the street, took people by the arm, joked and joshed them along.

What did he say? That Ken started well but has done the job too long: “All spin, no delivery.” Boris (whom he met for the first time at last week’s TV debate) is a “lovely chap”, very funny but should stick to the day job and chairing Have I Got News For You.

UPDATE 2: Did you miss last week’s London Mayoral debate between the three contenders, broadcast last Thursday? Or were you just not able to watch it because you lived outside the London area? Either way, help is at hand, and as you can now watch it online by clicking on this link.