With Oona King joining the list of potential candidates for Labour's London mayoral candidate this particular race could be deemed more interesting than that for the Labour leadership. Alan Johnson is rumoured to be standing and previous mayor Ken Livingstone also plans to run. Is this race looking to be more heavyweight than the race to be Labour leader?
I've not yet decided who I will support for leader as I don't feel there is much choice - perhaps this is because I wanted Johnson. If Johnson runs for mayor, together with a female candidate in King, does Livingstone stand a chance? I feel that any of these three candidates gives Labour a good chance of beating incumbent Tory Boris Johnson. If Labour wins the mayoral election that will give the party a springboard for the next general election. Victory will mean that Labour is a credible option for power nationally.
Having been mayor for eight years, having made many major improvements to London but also looking to have run out of steam I don't think Ken Livingstone would be the best candidate. He would risk focusing the campaign on the past when what Labour needs is fresh ideas and a fresh candidate. I'm a big fan of (Alan) Johnson, but King could provide the freshness Labour in London needs.
3 comments:
I do like Oona, and from what I've seen from my friends on twitter etc she's got a lot of support throughout the party, from left and right.
But does she have much appeal outside the party? She lost her seat to Galloway, after all... even in the difficult circumstances of that election, that's not a great sign in what should be a safe Labour seat. And her image among a lot of non-Labour types is as a loyalist lackey. After Ken and Boris, that's not going to be what people are wanting, and she's going to have to do a lot to change people's minds.
This writer wants nothing more than for Ken Livingstone to win the Mayoral election,BUT.... see; http://kenlivingstoneformayor.blogspot.com
http://kenlivingstoneformayor.blogspot.com
Is ken too serious?
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