Mayoral hopeful Andrew Boff answers the questions you posed on Wednesday.
Les: "As a person with an impressive track record in local government, I wonder how you feel about the Conservative party's various attempts to push seemingly unqualified 'celebrities' into the role. To me, this says that winning the Mayoral election is more important to the party than any competence that the candidate might bring to the actual job."
Celebrity is temporary, passion and principles are forever. There is nothing wrong with celebrities standing for public office and we should welcome newcomers to the party but they must have clear ideas about what it is they want to do. The public are not stupid; they know the difference between 'Big Brother' and an election for a serious political post.
malcolm: "What would be your top priority be Andrew? And what do you see as Livingstone's biggest blunder?"
Democratic renewal. The Tory party is about liberation or it is nothing. The steps I have announced about voters initiatives, where the people can take direct control over the direction of policy, and providing support for locally expressed wishes for smaller local authorities puts power back in the hands of the people. The political class hate the idea. I think non-conservatives, when expressing their second preferences and wanting to see a door open for their opinions to be expressed, will rather like it.
Livingstone's most telling blunder (perhaps not his biggest though) was the western expansion of the Congestion charge zone. Not so much because of the effect that this had on transport but the contempt he displayed by making it plain that he wasn't going to listen to residents. A Boff Mayoralty will be one that gives people the power to have real influence over such schemes.
Steve Smith: "What skills and experience do you consider you have that would make you the best candidate to beat Livingstone next May? In the 4 weeks left of the primary campaign, how do you propose to get your message across? Do you think you can beat Boris Johnson?"
I can articulate the Conservative message in a language that people
understand. Too often, people who would be natural Conservative
supporters are turned off by stereotypes of “typical Conservatives”
which the media have reinforced. I was born in a Council House in West
London, I went to a secondary modern school and I talk plainly. No
matter how the Labour party try to make me into a “typical Tory” they
will fail.
The people of Greater London need to be constantly reminded that
Conservatives are their next door neighbour, their friends and their
colleagues. We need a modern face of the Conservative Party.
The remainder of the campaign will be about making statements of what I will be doing as candidate and as Mayor and putting over the message that if Conservatives are serious about winning, they should be serious about who they support and not just do what the media tells them.
I don't want to “beat” other Conservatives in this race. Victoria, Warwick and Boris would be fine candidates for the post of Mayor. I just think I have something different to offer.
Father Brian: The Conservatives made a fatal mistake by not fielding a top-rate candidate at the first GLA elections, then another by fielding a proven loser at the next. Livingstone and Labour in London now regard the post of Mayor as their personal property and that'll be hard to overcome. What can you suggest to remedy this?
Last year, Conservatives in the Boroughs proved we can win. Remarkable
victories were had by some remarkable people. If we can use that same
energy to let the public know what the effect of Livingstone is on
their street, that's where we will start the fight. We will show how
centralised planing decisions are destroying their communities, how
money that should be going to improving the transport system is being
siphoned into pre-election give-aways, how sporadic “celebrations” hide
the paucity of opportunities for young people, how his housing policy
will create ghettos of privilege and poverty rather than encouraging
the development of strong communities and how the creeping
centralisation of power will mean less opportunities for Boroughs to
tackle the many problems that they face. That's the battleground.
Alan S: You are the second-placed candidate but 60% behind BJ according to the ConHome poll. Be honest: Your only hope of becoming our candidate is if Boris has to quit the primary race. Right?
I am in this to win. As a precocious 16-year-old I wrote to all the Shadow Cabinet minsters in 1974 urging them to back Margaret Thatcher as Leader when bookies put her at 144 to one against. Her determination was a guide for me and I have no intention whatsoever of giving up the fight for liberty.
John Moss: You make a lot of your experiences in Hackney, how can these translate to the rest of London - where our support is stronger than it is is Hackney - and we must get out our support in droves in order to win.
Our successes in Hackney were made by working for the poor and dispossessed, who have mostly been abandoned by New Labour as a psephological irrelevance, as well as with our traditional support. But I am someone who knows how to win in Outer London too, having led the Conservatives to victory there against the national trend at the time. That has taught me that we must not ignore our traditional supporters. Conservatives who feel like they are being taken for granted will stay at home. Those Conservatives also know, however, that we need to be able go beyond our usual comfort zone in order to attract more first preferences and to secure the second preferences of non-Conservative voters. If we have an agenda that only meets the aspirations of the middle classes we will fail. If the agenda is just one of political correctness, we will fail. Our programme needs to be broad-based and bottom-up.
Londoner: If you do not win the nomination, would you accept an invitation to work as part of the top team of whoever does, both in the election and maybe beyond? What particular role would you like to play in such a campaign/administration?
I am in this to win. Once selected I will pull together a team from amongst the huge talent that this party has in the the Boroughs to drive Livingstone out of City Hall. The campaign will not be composed of a GLA campaign and a semi-detached Mayoral campaign. It will be one campaign. It will be a winning campaign. If you want to support me then mail me on [email protected] or you can donate online at http://andrewboff.com.
Read more about the race to be the Tory candidate to take on Ken Livingstone on our Mayor blog. ConservativeHome's Samuel Coates will be at Boris Johnson's campaign launch tomorrow and will be filing a full report.
