New Evening Standard blog focuses on Ken Livingstone's efforts to win the war of second preferences

The London Evening Standard's Paul Waugh has started blogging the Mayoral race.

His latest post notes Ken Livingstone's attempts to love-bomb the LibDems:

"When he pitched up in Lib Dem-run Richmond to launch his green manifesto today, Ken went out of his way to be nice to the third party's voters. He lavished praise on the local council for slapping higher parking charges on 4x4s and pointed out he had recently doled out cash to help its transport plans.  Behind this outburst of new-found admiration for Lib Dems (which comes on, ooh, roughly every four years in Ken's case) is of course the brutal political arithmetic that, in a second preference election, their votes will decide the outcome of the mayoral race.  The yellow Lib heartland of south west London (where the party controls Sutton, Kingston and Richmond) certainly offers a rich seam of votes for any candidate. In a bid to prove he is as much a candidate of the 'burbs as the inner city (on which note we will see more from Boris later this week), Ken claimed today that the area gave him his second highest vote in the capital in 2004. In that election, he liked Simon Hughes so much that he recommended that Labour voters use their second preferences for the Libs."

Ken Livingstone has already struck a formal 'second preferences deal' with London's Greens.

Second preferences and turnout efforts will now determine whether Boris Johnson can win on 1st May.  Yesterday's Times noted the huge grassroots effort that is characterising the Johnson campaign's efforts in 'Zones 5 & 6'.

Comments

[englandism.com]

Here is a winner. Boris should state that in line with official government guidance Town Hall will permanently fly the Cross of St George alongside the Union flag.

‘The (Union) flag could be flown alongside those of the individual countries of England, Scotland and Wales, the Telegraph says.

The government is also expected to scrap rules stating that the Union flag must take precedence over all national flags. ‘

UPI. March 24, 2008 at 11:13 AM

A popular gesture which cannot be questioned except by those that suggest that the national flag of England is inherently racist?

[Mr Angry]

Flag flying - an utterly pointless piece of gesture politics that cuts no ice with the electorate.

[englandism.com]

Quite right too. No ice cutting with the electorate as I was only saying to Salmond the other week. No saltires for you matey boy. As Brown was only saying this week with his Union flags and Britishness because he recognises that this cuts no ice with the electorate and is of marginal importance.

Have you noticed the flag of the USA when in the USA? No one really bothers that much.

Do they?

[Neil Martin]

I'm mystified as to why the flag issue has reared its head in response to this...

Livingstone is being very clever with the Lib Dems: he's targetting them here but savaging Paddick in inner London over the tube. He obviously thinks there is a seam of Labour backing Lib Dems in south west London rather than targetting the Kent bits. He must be thinking, then, that things will be very much closer than last time.

[Mr Angry]

"No one really bothers that much.

Do they?"

No, they don't. Well only obsessives trapped in the last century.

[london conservative]

Boris Johnson deserves some praise for a few things.

First, although it has not as far as I can see been reported on this blog, he has properly apologised for the offence caused by his use of racially-charged inappropriate language, which is now so well known that it is not necessary to repeat it, and for printing an article in the Spectator written by Taki which said that Caribbeans were "multiplying like flies." He also has explained how it took a mental journey to realise why the use of this sort of language would cause offence, in the black London newspaper The New Nation. This according to the respected London journalist Hugh Muir:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/mar/26/2

Second, he deserves credit for saying that he will hire more qualified minority ethnic Londoners should he become London's Mayor.

Third, he deserves credit for announcing that he would plant 10,000 trees, using the
money currently wasted on the Mayor's pointless propaganda sheet, the Londoner.

[Contrick]

Hope he loses