Brian Paddick criticises the suggestion that Conservative London mayor candidate Boris Johnson could run the capital as a kind of chairman supported by expert advisers.
“I think a lot of people are prepared to entertain the idea of Boris Johnson as mayor on the assumption that he will be surrounded by advisers, who will effectively run London for him,” the Liberal Democrat candidate said in an interview with Reuters.
“If you allow your personal advisers that amount of power, you end up with the sort of allegations of corruption that Ken Livingstone has had to face.”
Click on video below | You can read a longer interview here
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2 comments so far
Does Paddick presume to run London as a one-man band? We have had enough of tin-pot dictators in the shape of Livingstone. What we need is indeed a mayor who will listen to his advisers and work for the people of London instead of promoting his own narrow interests or political ideology.
- Posted by Mike TNo, of course I am not going to run City hall as a one man band. I am going to openly advertise for the posts of Mayoral advisors and ensure London gets the best people for the job rather than people who happen to know the Mayor or who have worked with him in the past. Personal patronage is what is happening now and that is what the Conservative candidate plans to do if he becomes Mayor and London deserves better. I am also going to listen to Londoners, something I did when I was in the police, something the current Mayor no longer does and something that the Conservative candidate has never done. The problem with Livingstone is not that he does not listen to his advisors, it is that his advisors have their own personal agendas and he listens to no-one else.
- Posted by Brian Paddick