It seems a little early to go negative but Labour appears to be resorting to personal attacks on Boris Johnson in a bid to win City Hall back in 2012.
Labour’s deputy leader in London, John Biggs, was effectively kicked out of Mayor’s questions at City Hall yesterday for verbally abusing Boris over his assertions that there would be more police on the streets in May 2012 than he inherited in May 2008.
The official scolding from the chairman of the London Assembly didn’t stop Mr Biggs mouthing off again today, ahead of a full meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority.
While it is good to see the Mayor rising above it, it is not the first time recently that Labour, and some Lib Dem members, have tried to smear Boris. The personal attacks now appear to be a coordinated Labour strategy to get Ken Livingstone back into office.
At the moment these are centred on whether police figures will be up or down by May 2012. Official Met figures show that when Boris came into office in May 2008 there were 31,398 police officers on London’s streets. There are now around 32,300 and agreed predictions put the number at 32,510 by May 2012 – an increase of around 1,112.
Perhaps it is not surprising that Labour and Ken have gone negative early. Where else is there to go?