The Labour Party have been busy campaigning outside tube stations today with the message that the fares increase is wrong as Boris Johnson already "takes more in fares from you than he needs." Boris supporters have also been outside tube stations with a leaflet which backs the tube upgrades that are taking place as key […]
Some might write an autobiography for money. Others for fame or a desire for popularity, to be better "understood." But there must also be a lot for whom writing a biography is a form of therapy. Ken Livingstone's autobiography You Can't Say That (Faber and Faber £25) comes under the latter category. I'm sure he […]
To go with the rich diet of the festive season I have been reading Johnson's Life of London by Boris Johnson (Harper Press £20) which has proved an equivalent literary feast. Reading about all these great lives and inventions associated with the capital has taught me a lot. Even reading the things in this volume […]
The Feltham and Heston byelection on December 15 has yet to capture the excitement of the media but I think the result will be interesting. How will UKIP get on? What will the result mean for Boris? Will the Labour Party be fighting a class war campaign wearing top hats? I think unlikely given that […]
The latest poll for the Evening Standard shows Boris Johnson has an 8% lead over Ken Livingstone in next year's election for Mayor of London. The poll was conducted by ComRes. In February a YouGov poll showed Boris 3% ahead. Another YouGov poll in June showed Boris 8% ahead. I think the relevant question is […]
The election for Mayor of London next year could be the first one where campaigning messages put up on YouTube and promoted by blogs and emails could make an important difference to the result. Previously they have been a rather frivolous aspect of electioneering offering entertainment for political obsessives. But most Londoners use the internet. […]
The Mayor Watch website speculates on the prospects of UKIP getting at least one London Assembly seat in the elections next year. They point out that on current polling UKIP are on 7% in London and that if that was maintained next year and reflected in the turnout for the Mayoral and London Assembly elections […]
Labour's candidate for Mayor of London Ken Livingstone has called on me to be sent to prison along with all my fellow Conservative councillors in Hammersmith and Fulham. Speaking at a public meeting in Fulham Palace Road on Monday evening he attacked plans to redevelopment the West Kensington and Gibbs Green estates as "gerrymandering" making […]
Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh, Leader of Hammersmith and Fulham Council, pays tribute to Sir Simon Milton whose memorial service took place yesterday Yesterday I attended Simon Milton's memorial service in Westminster Abbey which was a celebration of the remarkable life of someone who has left his mark on both the City of Westminster and London as […]
During this month's Mayor of London's Question Time, Labour suggested that the Mayor was failing to put the interests of commuters first. But it was gently pointed out to them that strike action was not advantageous to the interests of commuters: Richard Tracey (AM): Mr Mayor, let us get to the nub of this. After […]
Last year, discussing the plans of Boris Johnson Mayor of London for a Cable Car crossing of the River Thames, the Labour Member of the London Assembly, John Biggs, said: I am happy to publicly guarantee that if it is open by May 2012 I will vote for you, Boris because I know it is […]
Andrew Gilligan has a blog post about how Labour officials are in despair at the candidacy of Ken Livingstone for Mayor for London. He says: The official in charge of the London Labour Party has been removed after saying that Ken Livingstone, Labour’s candidate for the mayoralty, “cannot win” next year’s election if he continues […]
Yesterday was National Poetry Day and the Mayor of London Boris Johnson marked the occasion by launching a poetry competition. Any child aged between 10 and 16 living in London is eligible to enter by writing a poem on the theme of what is great about the Olympics and submitting it via the GLA website. […]
I was outside Ravenscourt Park tube station this morning handing out "Back Boris" leaflets to commuters. I was struck by how often the mere mention of his name and display of his picture cheered people up. Another thing I noticed was the group of the London electorate identified by pollsters as "Labour for Boris" certainly […]
Ken Livingstone's speech to the Labour Party Conference included a pretty direct pitch that Boris Johnson is to blame for the riots and that making Livingstone the Mayor would prevent riots taking place. Livingstone said: "Only a few years ago London was leading the world. Yet now the image of London is a city of […]