Victoria Borwick, contender for the Conservative nomination for Mayor of London, answers your questions.
The Known Universe: Who are you?
Very existential! But for the purposes of the mayoral race, I am a Conservative, a businesswoman, former finance director at Conservative Party Headquarters, mother of four children, and a councillor in Kensington and Chelsea. I was born in London and have lived here all my life. I held senior management positions with P&O and DMG World Media and my business skills cover areas such as strategic planning, analysis and project management. I have worked on this campaign twice before – the first time as Steve Norris’s deputy. I am chairman of K&C’s Borough Community Relations Group and I spend a lot of time visiting the poorer parts of my patch on the estates in North Kensington. I am passionate about London and want to see it achieve its potential as the greatest city on earth.
Edward: Doesn't the fact your campaign is so focused around Ken show that he is very much in charge of this campaign. Shouldn't it be more positive?
My campaign is not focused around Ken. I have clear, positive priorities. Cutting crime, freezing or reducing the Mayor’s share of the council tax – now £300 a year for the average family, professional management of City Hall and value for money across London, improved public transport and an end to the congestion charge because it does no good and a lot of harm. I also want to see London become a greener city, but through the application of the latest technology, not fines and penalties. See, I haven’t mentioned Livingstone once in that list. But I do believe that a key part of the mayoral campaign is to bring home to Londoners the damage Livingstone is doing to our city.
Watchdog: I note from your website that you are considering introducing US-style policing and also that you wish to recruit a top US police chief as London's crime tsar if you become mayor. Why? Have you no confidence in our own policemen and women? From what I know about US policing they're not much to shout about. If you want to improve policing in London, simply refer to Sir Robert Peel's Nine Points of Policing. It's straightforward really. There's no need to sell your soul to all things American you know..!!
The first of Sir Robert’s Principles is "To prevent crime and disorder, as an alternative to their repression by military force and severity of legal punishment." And this is exactly what Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his police chief Bill Bratton did in New York in the 1990s. The first step was to employ more police. But more bodies were not enough. Officers pursued seemingly minor crimes that, if left unattended, soon undermine order, especially ‘quality of life’ offences such as graffiti, litter or vandalism — hence ‘broken windows’ policing. The police were also embedded in neighbourhoods, responding to residents’ concerns, tapping local knowledge and identifying the small core of offenders responsible for much of the crime. All data was fed into a real-time police intelligence system; local commanders were penalised if crime didn’t fall in their area. New York moved from a situation where police reacted to crime to one where they prevented it from happening.
The results were spectacular.
There were 2,262 murders in New York City in 1990; last year, there were just 540, a collapse of 76 per cent. Rape is down 48 per cent, assault 61 per cent, robbery 76 per cent, burglary 80 per cent and car crime an astonishing 88 per cent. While many Londoners live in fear of violence, New York has undergone a cultural renaissance. Compare that with London. Since Livingstone has been Mayor, violent crime has risen 52 per cent across the capital.
I want to learn from New York’s success, which is why I would like import some expertise from the New York Police Department. We have 31,000 police officers in London up from 25,000 in 2000. But according to recent research, they spend 20 per cent of their time on paperwork. Paperwork cost the Met Police £150 million last year – twice the money spent on tackling robbery. Every time someone is questioned in the street, the police officer has to fill in a 40-question form. Only 500 of those 30,000 officers are on the beat at any one time. All this needs to change and as Mayor I would make it my top priority to make the change.
Richard: What do you believe you can offer that the other potential candidates can't?
Vision, leadership, a clear sense of priorities and a determination to make efficient management of City Hall the hallmark of my administration. London’s Mayor should be a hands-on chief executive with a clear focus on doing the practical things that would make London a safer, more pleasant place in which to live and work. I want to get things done for Londoners, not engage in the kind of juvenile posturing that characterises the Livingstone regime. I want more jobs for Londoners, better training and to play my part in boosting business and the City. Unemployment in the capital is at 7.6 per cent – more than 2 per cent higher than the national average and one per cent higher than the next worst region - the North East of England. It is scandalous that a city of such wealth and dynamism should have such severe pockets of joblessness. In Hackney, unemployment is 16.4 per cent, a dreadful figure. Of the ten worst places in the UK for unemployment, half are in London. I believe the Mayor should take the lead in spreading prosperity across the capital and making sure that London gets its fair share of money for job training.
John: How would you deal with problems where universal local opposition gets in the way of a development vital to the city?
As a Conservative I believe in the rights of the individual. But the Mayor’s job is to balance the interests of a particular group against those of the city as a whole. Consultation with the local borough council is a vital part of making that judgement. If a community objects to a development which will blight their area and affect their quality of life I think that they have a legitimate grievance. But compromise is the key here. One novel idea has been put forward by the Centre for Policy Studies in their "localist" series of papers. We could have reverse bidding for this sort of problem. A community can name its price for hosting an unpopular service such as an incinerator, prison or airport runway. If it works, the city gets the development and the community receives funds that can be used to offset taxes or invest in new developments.
Felicity Mountjoy: Do you think there could be benefits in having a woman mayor?
There are certainly benefits to be had from having a Conservative Mayor. Despite my slogan "A Red Head, Not Red Ken", I am not asking people to vote for me because I am a woman. But I do think that I would bring a different yet valuable perspective to the job.
Women, especially women with children, are more directly affected than men by the quality of public services and the quality of city life in general. So I think I would bring to the job a more intense understanding of the changes needed in London to benefit all its people.
My management style is getting people to focus on the end result, rather than just hold positions and battle with each other. I like to get things done and I have a reputation for achieving that.
As a woman, I am used to juggling different priorities and making sure that the "family" live in harmony, and that is my attitude to London too.
Justin Hinchcliffe: Do you honestly think you can win either contest?
Yes. If you want a mayor who will tackle crime, reduce costs, and get London moving again, then I am your choice. If you want a celebrity with no management or business experience then I am not going to win your vote. However you need have no doubt that I have the energy, commitment, enthusiasm and passion necessary to take on this role
Henry Mayhew: What do you think of Brixton market? Any chance of developing more markets to empower women (and men) to offer small scale services like clothes-making, hairstyling etc?
I agree London should be the seed-bed of entrepreneurial spirit. As part of developing London's individuality and business life this is important. Markets encourage entrepreneurs and start-up firms, and these are all the things that give London its special prominence as a cradle of enterprise. Less red tape and more encouragement for business are to be welcomed at every level.
TaxCutter: London survived very well without a Mayor for years. Why can't it again?
But London without a Mayor is not on the menu. We either have a Labour Mayor with a penchant for high taxes, mismanagement, waste and inefficiency. Or we can have a Conservative Mayor, committed to a true Conservative agenda, working closely with the boroughs to make our city a place to be proud of. And if you care about cutting taxes – the £300 Livingstone costs the average Londoner – then a Conservative Mayor has to be your preferred choice.
Mary Hinge: What on earth can yet another Kensington councillor offer the vast majority
of people who don't live in such salubrious surroundings?
Councillors, even in K&C, don’t spend all day swanning around in big cars and attending swanky dinners. Being a councillor means being out there on the streets, engaging with people directly and engaging with their problems – over crime, housing, transport, health care, schooling and social services. Don’t worry – I see the harsher side of life every day as I try to put a roof over the head of a homeless family or get a carer for an old lady. K&C is not all Ken High Street and designer shops. It is also the estates of North Kensington where crime, drugs and family breakdown are huge problems. As chairman of the community relations group, I work with all kinds of people, from all kinds of backgrounds, not just the toffs. Nor can you spend 25 years working in business in London and not have some idea about the sheer variety and complexity of this city.
CLICK HERE: Are you prepared for the same sort of abuse that the ginger-haired Chapmans got in Newcastle?
My hair is red not ginger! But I am perfectly capable of looking after myself. No one should go into politics without being prepared for a bit of flack. I must admit I rather enjoy a scrap.
No To Dyke: Don't you feel humiliated by David Cameron's botched plan to abandon the open primary and impose Greg Dyke as a joint Tory/Lib Dem candidate?
Water off a duck’s back. I know I am engaged in a tough contest to win the Conservative nomination for London Mayor. And I know the competition will be fierce. I can live with that. It is a healthy process. I tend not to worry too much about the other candidates, real or imagined. I am focused on my campaign, my priorities and what I can do for the people of London. I will leave it to the media and the politicos to speculate about who will come to the starting line. I just know I will be there.
Matt Davis: Do you have a genuine knowledge and understanding of the issues facing parts of London other than Kensington and Chelsea and if so could you please substantiate that?
I used to be finance director at Conservative Party Headquarters so I have plenty and knowledge and experience of the party in London and beyond. I worked on the 2000 and 2004 Conservative mayoral campaigns and I have traipsed the streets right across the capital in support of Conservative parliamentary, GLA and council candidates. I am a campaigner and I enjoy campaigning. I also believe fervently that at every level, London is better off with Conservatives in post. I have set out my policy agenda in my answers here and I have produced my campaign DVD and manifesto – set out in detail on my website – so everyone can see what I am about. Every politician has his or her base. But no good politician allows herself to limited by local horizons. Over the last few weeks, I have visited just about every part of the capital to take forward my campaign – Sutton, Uxbridge, Havering, Bromley, Hammersmith, Kingston, Richmond are among my most recent ports of call. Just let me know where you are and I will come and track you down.
Jilly: What do you think of the 2012 Olympic logo?
I fear this may be one issue on which Livingstone and I are in agreement. It looks like a demented piece of graffiti and at £400,000 represents a serious waste of money. And now the accompanying video is triggering epileptic fits. With 45,000 people signing a petition calling for it to be scrapped, it has not been a great start. But I have been impressed by the amateur alternatives that have been springing up on websites. Perhaps we should have a London-wide competition to design and choose a new logo – one that meets with rather greater public support.
