Tory blogger joins race for London Mayor

James Cleverly today becomes the fourth Conservative to announce his intention to enter the race to become the Tory candidate for Mayor.

James fought the seat of Lewisham East at the last General Election and was also the unsuccessful Tory candidate for the Mayor of Lewisham earlier this year.

His website is already live and true to his standing as one of the party's most enthusiastic bloggers there are plenty of opportunities for visitor interaction.  He has an ideas forum where Londoners can submit comments on a wide range of issues affecting the whole capital or individual boroughs.

His launch press release highlights seven priorities:

1. Greater community policing;
2. The creation of a Social Enterprise Unit to empower the voluntary sector in addressing London's most intractable social problems;
3. More powers for the boroughs;
4. Improvements in London's housing stock and built environment;
5. Support for local shops (something the London Evening Standard has been campaigning on);
6. "A dramatic reduction in the Mayor's [council tax] precept"
7. An Olympics delivered on time and within budget.

Comments

[Esbonio]

Good luck to James. If I could I would vote for him.

[Cllr. Robert-j Tasker]

Excellent,

I'm pleased James is standing. Nick Boles will be the CO candidate no doubt, but the rank file member would be far more attracted to James.

I wish him all the luck and thoroughly hope he is our next candidate for the London mayoralty.

Regards,

[Chad]

Well strike me down. You've only gone and got yourself a brilliant candidate.

I'll be making a donation to James' campaign today.

[Becky Stevens]

I have worked with James in Lewisham over the last 2/3 years and he is a fantastic campaigner who really connects with voters. I have been secretly hoping he would put himself forward - James, you have my vote.

[Robert-j Tasker]

Chad,

Hop on back to UKIP please.

I think your own website needs some work doing to it.

[Chad]

Puff. I've only just tunnelled my way out of the EPP thread. Let me catch my breath first RJT! ;-)

[Robert Halfon]

James Cleverly is an excellent and decent man and a first rate campaigner.He deserves every possible success.

[James Webb]

"James Cleverly is an excellent and decent man and a first rate campaigner.He deserves every possible success."

I'm sure this is true but this is another nonentity, who came third in the election for Mayor in Lewisham (in a borough where we used to hold two of the three parliamentary constituencies) with 15.8% of the vote--several points worse than our London Mayoral candidate in 2004.

When are party members going to get that this isn't about being a nice person (although that doesn't hurt) it is about political reality: can you beat Livingstone?

[James Schneider]

Finally, a really quality candidate that all types of voters can get behind. I think he will run a very effective campaign and will easily be in control of the web. In suppporting local shops he's on to a winner. He will run the social enterprise unit supremely well, given his expertise in the area.
Lets all get behind him.

[Daniel Vince-Archer]

BBCi is reporting that Richard Barnes AM has entered the contest as well (with John Stevens acting as referee).

[Vt]

Where do you get all this money to throw about Chad ? and no, I won't be making any donations to the ukip leadership candidates.

[Chad]

"Where do you get all this money to throw about Chad ?"

Well with five kids to pay for, I don't have much "to throw about" but I do
I have a large penny jar for such worthy political occasions! ;-)

[london tory]

James is right.

Steve Norris won 18.3% of the vote on first preferences in the London Borough of Lewisham in 2004, the Tories sixth worst borough out of 32 plus the corporation, polling 106% of the vote achieved by our candidate for the London Assembly (ie more than him), and beating the Liberal Democrats into third place. Mr. Norris won a further 11.3% of second preference votes cast.

Winning 15.8% and coming third behind the Liberal Democrats in your own backyard in a personality-based Mayoral election, as Mr Cleverly did, is not good enough to beat Livingstone.

I have yet to hear of a candidate who has ever achieved anything more than win election as a local councillor in a safe Tory ward or a seat on the London Assembly in a safe Tory area. Some candidates mentioned have never won any election at all. That is simply not good enough.

This election is one of the toughest in British politics. It is the size of 74 parliamentary constituencies containing around one in eight citizens of the entire UK. As Tim Hames said in The Times yesterday: "The mayor has the largest direct mandate east of New York and west of Moscow, bar the president of France."

Inexperience cannot win this election. Anything else is wishful or deluded thinking.

[Chris Palmer]

I wish James Cleverly every success. Back in the last ConservativeHome survey, I was the only person to suggest him as potential Conservative Mayor of London - when I would have thought the choice to be obvious!

[Chris]

People mentioning Jame's lack of sucess in Lewisham aren't considering the appeal that James will have to the rest of London. He's a fresh face, with good ideas which he conveys in a brilliant manner.

Alas I don't even have a penny jar like Chad, but would willingly help Jame's campaign in any other way possible.

[Rob D]

James should be commended for running in Lewisham. He is a real campaigner and a person any association would love to have.

We might have held the seats in the 80s, but times are different. Plenty of good candidates (eg Malky Rifkind, Nick Boles) have not won seats we held in the 80s.

If Lewisham was more promising, Hammersmith or Wandsworth, James would have been one of the leading lights on its council. A man should be commended for fighting in his own area and not "chicken running".

I will support him and urge others to do so.

[Mark Spencer]

Not only did he come third behind the Lib Dems in the Lewisham Mayoral vote with less than 16% of the vote, he also failed to get elected in three different wards in Lewisham at three different local council elections.

Can we have someone of whom Livingstone is actually afraid please? Is that too much to ask after nine years being in opposition--11 by the time the Mayor's race comes around?

[Paul Holmes]

I hope James gets the candidacy and wish him all the luck in the world. Lewisham is different, very safe Labour. London wide James has the ideal appeal to ordinary Londoners. I have worked with James and used my vote to select him to be the candidate for Lewisham Mayor, he is charasmatic and works very hard while walking the streets for hours. I will be happy to help his campaign in any way I can. I hope he gets it.