/>#kenwasthen … Labour or London?
It’s interesting that the contest between Oona King and Ken Livingstone has failed to attract significant national media attention, or a huge amount of engagement from Labour Party members. Labour is often accused of being too London-centric, and some of the leadership candidates have certainly gone out of their way to promote their regional roots and focus.
But while we have surely all made up our minds by now about who we are going to vote for as our new leader?! I don’t witness the same level of debate about which Labour candidate we want to challenge Boris Johnson to be the most powerful directly elected politician in the country.
Perhaps this is because Labour supporters don’t think we can beat Boris? Or perhaps its because we are a bit tired of these nomination processes now and if we are going to go to the effort to go to a hustings, its going to be for the Party Leadership and that’s about it?
But while the Leadership contest is about the future of Labour and how we will challenge and hold the new coalition Government to account, the Mayoral nomination race is surely about the future of London, and nothing is more exciting to me at this time than that.
I’ve lived in London all my life, and I think Labour in London has always been weaker than it should be. We have had and still do have, a huge wealth of hard-working London Labour MPs, activists with huge amounts of experience and knowledge, and a structure of local and devolved government which allows for our councils, and our Mayor to have a real impact on the lives of Londoners and make our city a better place to live.
For me, its a shame that Ken has thrown himself back into the race this time. I think if he had said that he wasn’t standing then we would have seen some of his supporters throwing themselves forward, such as David Lammy.
Ken should have recognised that it was time for the next generation to take on the challenge on re-engaging with Londoners, and what a great nomination race it would have been if Lammy and Oona has both been vying for our votes. Labour could have showcased its diversity and talent in London at a time when the Party is desperately looking for experienced and engaging personalities to re-connect with voters.
As we get closer to the nomination of our candidate for Mayor (it will be announced in London on the day before Party Conference) I hope that London members will get more engaged in the debate, and will see that Labour has to re-energise itself in London with a new and vibrant candidate before we have any chance of taking on Boris Johnson in 2012. In my opinion, there is only one candidate who can do that.
What are your views? Email me.
David.
David Chaplin
Chair, Young Fabians
dchaplin@youngfabians.org.uk
To summarise – Ken is a has-been, Oona is…? She seems light in terms of policy, which is a shame because she is a good communicator.
I think that had David Lammy been in the contest there would have been more interest. Oona and Ken are fairly lively characters, but Lammy has always come across as a serious yet passionate politician able to speak and write in accessible language. I suspect he’ll do well in the shadow cabinet.