Second columnist backs Brian
January 21st, 2008Following Nirpal Dhaliwal’s endorsement last week, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown has declared in today’s Independent that she’ll be voting for Brian Paddick, whom she calls “a smart and savvy Londoner”.
She praises some of Ken Livingstone’s record, but believes he shouldn’t be given a third term:
“I will not be voting for Ken. I think he has pushed some extraordinarily effective policies and his views on refugees and immigration chime with mine. He has been a champion of diversity for over three decades. Yet, I don’t care for his inner circle, his arrogance, his bad decisions. Remember Kiley and the fortune that man made? A third term will make all this worse.”
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown won’t be voting for Boris Johnson either:
“Boris is a very talented polemicist and a hopeless politician, who must think Londoners are idiots. […] If we were choosing a city entertainer or a jester to the crown, Johnson would be perfect. A working mayor of a complex city needs to be serious, a policy wonk, committed to equality and diversity. Johnson ain’t it.”
You can read the full article on the Independent website.
Meanwhile, on The Guardian’s Comment is Free website, Dave Hill has picked up on Brian Paddick’s commitment to cut crime in the capital:
“Where crunched numbers are concerned, Liberal Democrat Brian Paddick has come cleanest. It’s what you’d hope for from an ex-policeman - 30 years with the Met before stepping down following a falling out with Sir Ian Blair over the shooting of Charles De Menezes - and he’s got Ken Livingstone bang to rights.”
