Dyke to run as Lib-Tory candidate for Mayor?

Iain Dale has an extraordinary exclusive on his blog.  Francis Maude is allegedly attempting to put Greg Dyke forward as a joint Tory/ LibDem Mayoral candidate.  Mr Dyke, who left Labour for the LibDems, is apparently "up for it".  All the details are on Iain's blog.

Press Association update:

"Former BBC Director General Greg Dyke tonight quashed speculation that he would run for London Mayor as a joint Liberal Democrat-Conservative candidate. After a day of fevered political intrigue in which the prospect was discussed face-to-face by Tory leader David Cameron and his opposite number Sir Menzies Campbell, Mr Dyke finally ruled out a challenge. "The only way I'd win was to get an agreement between political parties, and there wasn't one to be had," he told Sky News. The Liberal Democrats said they had dismissed the notion as unworkable, insisting that London "deserved a liberal choice"."

Comments

[James O'Shaughnessy]

Setting up someone as an anti-Ken candidate will backfire spectacularly because it'll give Ken the chance to argue that the establishment are ganging up on him - once again - and help him to persuade people that a vote for him is a vote against the establishment. Londoners love that kind of story, and it'll be the 2000 mayoral election all over again. This idea is madness.

[Not-a-Londoner]

Good name recognition, not from K&C, so should have wide appeal!!

[Oddball]

Fanbloodytastic!! Greg Dyke is a top geezer and actually probably worked with Daaaaaaavvve at ITV.

Conservative Mayor of London?? I think not! Francis Maude and his acolytes are either being bypassed or being a rad machievellian.

Although he is getting closer to being the right type of candidate!!

[Kevin Davis]

Surely this would be a bit like the Conservatives agreeing to stand down their candidates where the Lib Dems are second to Labour and the Lib Dems doing the reverse.

It's lunacy - but more importantly why does anyone believe Dyke is a good candidate that would beat Livingstone!

[HF]

Can anyone please explain how increasing the power of the Lib Dems in London improve our chances at the next GE?

In the South and in much of London our real challenge is the Lib Dems not Labour.

DUH!

[Tim Aker]

Although it doesn't surprise me, why is Francis Maude working for the Lib Dems? I mean, there are so many things wrong with having LABOUR DONOR Greg Dyke as the lib dem/conservative candidate i dont know where to begin.

Needless to say, when i heard this mentioned on the Daily Politics, i thought it was a joke...evidently not!

Another day, another reason to give a friendly ear to UKIP

[kingbongo]

Has Francis Maude not got any better ideas than this? Tory success in London is being driven by traditional tory policies based careful fiscal management. Get a better candidate Francis, preferably a Conservative!

If the LibDems can get Dyke to stand then he might even get elected but he's no more a LD than a tory. He's a socialist, should have been a thatcherite but never was - he is has been and always will be a socialist. He used to be proud of it.

[Sean Fear]

I most certainly would not vote for Greg "hideously White" Dyke.

[Oba of Benin]

It seems the Tories are only interested in winning.

Chavez is very popular in London. Perhaps we should draft him into the conservative party. George Galloway is also popular!

[Francis Hoar]

This is not just ridiculous but outrageous, undemocratic and unconservative. Why Greg Dyke? Not only has he never demonstrated the slightest sympathy for Conservative principals or policies, but his career ended in embarrassment and forced resignation. And why on earth should there be a joint Liberal/Conservative candidate? As any Tory knows, they are the first rival in most Conservative seats and their hypocracy and under-arm tactics in elections stink.
The answer to the (genuine) problem of a lack of any candidates of calibre is to (heavily) persuade some eminent Conservatives to stand. Malcolm Rifkind and Michael Portillo spring immedietely to mind.

[Praguetory]

Electoral ambition before principles. Are Head Office trying to wind us up?

[CDM]

Greg Dyke has ruled out standing, so there's no need to panic.

[Jonathan Sheppard]

Already rejected by Dyke himself. Though he seemingly likes Blair, has given money to the Lib Dems - so why we would have him as a Conservative candidate I dont know?

If he wants to stand - be an independent! Give voters the choice of a Tory!

[Graeme Archer]

I think they've finally found a candidate I wouldn't vote for.

[Richard]

The man who called the BBC "hideously white"? I thought we were opposed to racial prejudice in the Modern Conservative Party?

[James Wright]

So leaked story and... surprise... the Lib Dems aren't interested and Dyke isn't ready for prime time.

Isn't it time Francis called Steve Norris and asked him to do the decent thing?

Coming third or fourth with some unknown K&C or Westminster councillor will be a serious break on David Cameron's momentum.

[tits]

this story is complete rubbish. greg isn't interested in the tories as he has made clear on the record. why nobody checked with him i don't understand.

more to the point though, the tories are having serious trouble. just the same thing happened with john bird. he is standing but turned down tory approaches too.

[John Coles]

Can there be any clearer indication of Mr Cameron's liberal politics? Such evident defeatism.

[Paul Kennedy]

Seems as though the idea has been abandoned.

Mr Norris......London needs you.

I was going to say Lord Archer, but maybe that would be going a little too far. ;)

[Norris says not on your Nelly]

Sadly, sources close to Steve say that he would not touch the Tory nomination with a barge pole now. Do you honestly think that he wants it after Dave has been courted and been rejected Lord Stevens, John Bird, Nick Ferrari, Greg Dyke et al?

Relations between CCHQ and Steve are virtually non-existent. Perhaps Gillian Shephard and Stefan Shakespeare will run another Archer campaign. No one with a sane mind would touch this poisoned chalice now.

And we think that the Old Etonians running the party are fit to run the country! Oh dear!

[Edward Keene]

What better formula would there be for further boosting the already-too-high UKIP vote in London?

[comstock]

No one with a sane mind would touch this poisoned chalice now.

Four more years of that smarmy Mr L, methinks. Mind you I never thought I'd say this, but he actually looks the sensible option, given the shambles all around him.

Fancy anouncing a joint candidate before the LibDems had even agreed it! What a total bleedin' cock up somebody has made here ................

[Jane Carter]

"It seems the Tories are only interested in winning."

If only. Steve Norris could do that. No-one believes Borewick, Boles or Lightfoot could.

[hypo]

James I'd love to see how Nick Boles will be the "not the establishment" candidate.

This is Alice in Wonderland politics.

[Justin Hinchcliffe]

Just returned from a meeting of London area chairmen: it ain't going to happen! I don't think there's anything wrong with a 'unity' candidate, per se, but Dyke is not the man. What Tory would have a problem with, say, Nick Clegg or John Bird?

[Dontmakemelaugh]

Having seen the D/Street video of candidate Warwick Lightfoot I was quite taken by his ideas and good manners. He should be taken seriously and boosted in his bid, but I do not suppose that he will be.

As for raising Norris from the dead ........

[Walaa Idris]

Well if we had a slim chance of winning London before today!!!!!? It just got slimmer. After this episode “THE BIG NAMES” will run the other way when they see us.
Sadly though all this has achieved is dwarf those hard working prospective candidates who are true conservatives and who voluntarily put themselves for the post. Maybe it is time for a reality check.

[Mark Wadsworth]

Sir Simon Milton is your man. Endof.

[Ross McKay]

Is Cameron completely demented? Greg Dykes represents all that millions have wanted to erase from British public life for decades- overweening BBC elitist arrogance, to sum it up.
Once GD was Labour, now he won't take DC's hand unless the LD's take the other. What a fine team to run against a leftwing menace! Who is more left? Who is left to defend the right?

[James Harris]

Time for Mr. Norris, I think.