tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17934023.post6051826225848526919..comments2024-03-20T12:28:00.031+00:00Comments on Liberal Bureaucracy: How we pick a candidate for Mayor of London - starting the debateMark Valladareshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15773193846795037711noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17934023.post-22573824600933372752009-02-06T10:08:00.000+00:002009-02-06T10:08:00.000+00:00Public discussion on the Greater London elections ...Public discussion on the Greater London elections concentrated almost entirely on the mayoralty, people were hardly aware of the Assembly elections.<BR/><BR/>We ought to have taken this as our opportunity, but we didn't. In the absence of any realistic chance of taking the mayoralty, our emphasis should have been on the Assembly elections, saying all about the good things our GLA members have been doing, and stressing the importance of having able people there independent of the party of the mayor to act as a check.<BR/><BR/>With no-one else campaigning much on the GLA, I suspect people seeing us pushing ourselves forward there and explaining its role would have reacted positively, and we would have done well. <BR/><BR/>If this line is taken, it does require a mayoral candidate who accepts it. A perennial danger for the Liberal Democrats is candidates who will not accept that for tactical reasons they may not get a great deal of party support. Your line of making the mayoral candidate top of the GLA list may resolve this problem.Matthew Huntbachhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18255872047710686115noreply@blogger.com