Home 
About
Contact
------------------
Manifesto
Policy
Join Us
Progress
Young People
------------------
Newsdesk
Other Articles
------------------
Volunteer
Surveys
Points of View
Send to a Friend
-------------------
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Site Map
The New Party NewsNews from the New Party
News Highlights
- The Democratic Imperative
- Socialism for shoppers
- Spivocracy in action
- Precisely
- The abdication of leadership
- Rebuilding communities
- The loser tendency
- It's the Enlightenment, stupid
- The corrosive effect of the welfare state
- The United Nations: what moral authority?
- Britain descends from tragedy to farce
- How to banish cynicism
- The Chancellor's iron grip - on power
- British politics: Is it dead yet?
- A call for militant liberalism
- Reduce, reuse, fly stuff half-way across the planet, recycle
- We're not all social democrats now
| Sunday, March 23, 2008 |
Anyone but Ken?With the polls now telling us that Boris Johnson is extending his lead over Ken Livingstone in the race to become London mayor, Gordon Brown is to send in Mrs Tessa Jowell to assist Red Ken's reelection bid. With the best will in the world, and with all due respect to Tessa Jowell, we suspect that the Boris campaign team is not quaking in its boots at this news. If anything it represents an encouraging signal of Labour's desperation. While it is true that the Conservative candidate will be very lucky to win by the twelve point margin predicted by the latest polls, Boris Johnson appears currently to have the upper hand in what will probably be a close contest.Machinations on the left in London are becoming increasingly complex: the Green Party is asking its voters to mark their second preference vote for Livingstone, in return for which Livingstone has asked his supporters to put the Green candidate Sian Berry as their second choice - an arrangement which is useful to Livingstone but no use at all to the Greens, who have no serious chance of being in a position to benefit from any second preference votes. Furthermore, the attempt to cast Boris Johnson as some kind of braying Nazi appears ludicrous to a voting public more inclined to regard him as, at worst, a genial buffoon. Meanwhile, Livingstone's many enemies within and around Labour are still casting about for options. Oliver Kamm has been urging former MP Oona King to run, apparently to no avail - while Nick Cohen is now urging progressives to vote for Brian Paddick, the Liberal Democrat candidate. But Paddick is currently polling only 12% of first preference votes, in distant third place with Livingstone on 37% and Johnson on 49%. The reality is that the London mayoral election is a two horse race - and with the left divided it looks very much like a referendum on Ken and his increasingly scandal-ridden administration. Could it be that London is waking up to reality at last? |
Tel: 020 7060 1262 | info@newparty.co.uk
© 2008 The New Party, 1 Northumberland Avenue, London, WC2N 5BW
Website Design:
E-Cat Partners