Forum Topic

Sadiq Khan set for a landslide and may be re-elected mayor in first round of voting, says Evening St

Seems as if the 'Sub' Standard thinks it's a done deal for mayor of London, heavens help us all if they are true. “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.” Khan is obviously able to despite his appalling record of having done virtually nothing since he was elected bar the War on the Motorist. Heaven help us next year as well if the current two sets of clowns get re-elected in Hounslow and Ealing.

peter king ● 1142d47 Comments

I thought that was implicit in my posting.

Rosco White ● 1122d

LOL Are you suggesting that there isn't blind party allegiance everywhere?

Philippa Bond ● 1122d

I REALLY don't want this pipsqueak back in office, he's not up to the job, and has proven it.WHY can't London/the UK ever come up with half decent, intelligent politicians, from any of the parties?I think we all despair over this.ONE answer might be to drop your blind "Party allegiance" and consider the issues at hand, and the person standing, regardless of their Party?This would certainly possibly solve our "Ealing problem" where The Labour Lemmings keep reinstating BellEnd and his Southall Posse.

Rosco White ● 1123d

The little man has published his manifesto to herald his seeming unchallenged re-election. Might he therefore consider putting his belief that he has done a good job by agreeing to appear on LBC's Nick Ferrari show? He has been there before, a patronizing appearance with James O'Brian seemingly polishing his shoes under the desk while he nodded through easy questions. Even the no-hoper Shaun Bailey took on Ferrari, he's no coward it would appear.

peter king ● 1124d

Nice dogwhistle!

Kevin Wilson ● 1134d

The Oxford PPE degree, then think tank/adviser jobs straight after, answers your question.

Kevin Wilson ● 1134d

Particularly as Shaun Bailey, who the Tories are throwing under a bus, seems to hold anyone he claims to have helped as a social worker with nothing but contempt. His empathy (or lack of it) is staggering.

Kevin Wilson ● 1134d

Yes the Tram was an awful plan and forced me to vote for Johnson. Sadiq in my opinion could be bolder especially in the provision of affordable rented housing. But the rules over getting best value mean that often land for development has to go to the higher bidder. and what is affordable?? definitely in London for many it doesn't exist. Bailey criticises Sadiq over crime and yet Theresa May destroyed the met with cuts.

Peter Chadburn ● 1134d

I can only assume that people who say Sadiq Khan has achieved nothing aren't regular users of public transport.For years under both Johnson and Livingstone what I paid for travel rose faster than my salary which meant that effectively my take home was being reduced. The fare freeze introduced by Sadiq Khan has meant that this process has been reversed. Also the introduction of bus hopper fares has meant that for our family we have been able to make trips without using the car that would have been prohibitively expensive.Highly polluting buses no longer are allowed on the Uxbridge Road which, as a contact lens wearer, I can assure you has made a real difference to air quality.Johnson and Livingstone favoured vanity projects like the West London Tram, the Garden Bridge and the new Routemaster whereas Sadiq Khan has focused on gradual change that makes individually small but collectively significant changes to people's lives. He has been a great success in my view and you will probably find that his high poll rating has a lot to do with support from people like me who have directly benefited from his policies.

Tricia Arbuthnot ● 1134d

I was going to vote for Rory last year. None of this year's candidates make me want to vote for them.

Susan Kelly ● 1134d

The only candidate who was potentially electable and really scared the Incumbents entourage and the other was parties was Rory Stewart.He dropped out as funding was not infinite and no-one clearly knows why.His policies were not fully announced as that stage was not reached. But his record as a fair and independent mind and his strength in standing up to even his own party was credible.Khan and more the clique around him are far from satisfactory and it's these advisors and consultants and troughs who we are really voting for and no-one makes that clear who they are and what their connections and affiliations are.Boris was no better. Rather ironically this was started by Ken Livingstone but to a far more open and accessible way.

Raymond Havelock ● 1134d

Good question, all the top politicians in the States need is seemingly loads of money, even JFK had lots!

peter king ● 1135d

They're all at it, there's zero dignity in politics.Well, there IS The Beast of Bolsover, and a few others who don't immediately spring to mind.Re the topic though, I believe Khan is totally ineffective, he's not basically up to the job and well out of his depth.The serious problem London has is that none of the challengers seem anywhere near up to it either?!WHY does the UK struggle to produce half decent politicians, with even a modicom of scruples and hard working ethic?

Rosco White ● 1135d

'How low can you go and retain your dignity is the question?'Quite a bit lower if the Jennifer Arcuri case is a guide

Mark Evans ● 1135d

I see that the mayor is keen to avoid missing out on the bribes front as he has promised 4g on the tube next year if he is reelected. Wee Jimmy Knankie has promised all Scottish schoolchildren free laptops if her SNP party get back in, no doubt part paid for by English taxpayers. How low can you go and retain your dignity is the question?

peter king ● 1135d

His popularity isn't perceived - it is verified by the polls we are discussing. It may be due to weak opposition but that in turn may be due to other parties recognising he couldn't be defeated.As for an alleged lack of accountability, I find it surprising he should be considered the worst for this given the low bar set by government ministers.

Mark Evans ● 1139d

So you don't live in Ealing then Peter?

peter king ● 1139d

I don't see what that has to do with my post.

Keith Iddon ● 1139d

Sorry but have to disagree. I have never heard anyone lack accountability as much as Sadiq Khan. Never will you hear him saying “we could have done better” or “that was not the right decision and we are changing it” but you always hear him blame someone else or something else. Awful politician.

James Putland ● 1139d

I think it more likely his perceived popularity has as much to do with his ethnicity and religion as anything else.

Keith Iddon ● 1140d

I’m not an admirer of SK.But he has had to go along with certain policies under threat from central government that much needed funds for TfL would not be forthcoming. It’s a pity that the Conservative candidate seems a bit weak.

Bettina Margaret Thwaite ● 1140d

I only voted for the blond nutter because of the tram. I really like sadiq but he could be a bit bolder in manner. People have kept information from him with reference to Crossrail. And perhaps more creativity on socially affordable housing. But it looks like the Tories have chosen another poor candidate and then messed up the campaign. Do they care about London? Johnson became Mayor because loads of us voted against the stupid tram project. Now i live in a place where we have 4 ballots for county, police commissioner, district and parish elections. but at least no skyscrapers or ltns to enjoy

Peter Chadburn ● 1140d

I've met the Mayor 4 or 5 times including a few times when he was an MP and before he ran for Mayor.Personally he is a really nice Guy.But as a politician he is a bit slippery. But I think his biggest failing is who he has around him and how easily he is influenced and controlled by some of them.Not all that different to his predecessor.That's the big problem, not unlike here in Ealing, it's who these faceless and unelected advisors and consultants actually are and their provenance.TfL and The GLA are dogged by this culture.

Raymond Havelock ● 1140d

He is clearly under a great deal of stress as are most political leaders at the moment. He seemed weary although his confidence that he would beat Shaun Bailey was evident.Having sat through the recordings of City Hall meetings his shortcomings are very clear. He is quite diffident and even shy and not a great public speaker. However, he never attends a meeting without reading the committee papers and has a very good grasp of the detail. He is generally courteous and fair to his opponents and willing to hear points of view which contradict his own.The contrast with Boris Johnson when he was Mayor could not be greater. He turned up to far fewer meetings and often had little notion of what was being discussed. He was clearly bored and only came to life when it was his turn to speak when he would deliver an eloquent and witty oration that often had little to do with what the committee was discussing.If there is one lesson that surely we must take from the pandemic with regard to politics it would be that it is a bad idea to elect politicians on the basis of Oxford Union polish and their ability to articulate views in a clever fashion. What we need is hard working politicians who don't think they are cleverer than the people advising them and don't think that having written an article on a subject makes them an expert on it.Sadiq Khan is slightly dull, is no great orator or anything close to being a genius but I think his popularity is due to a recognition that he cares more for the population of London than he does for himself and will work hard to improve things.

Mark Evans ● 1140d

The problem we have is weak opposition.. Regardless of what he says he looks good in the eyes of the voters!!! who are not fooled by his policies. It is not helped by Boris and his views on how we should all live and go about are lawful business.. LTN'S, Ulez raising public transport fairs all unpopular policy seen by the voters as central government lead so voters have no choice but to vote for  Khan..

Nicolas Ozegovic ● 1140d

I am not sure the studio make up artist did him any favours either.He looked tired,almost like he had black rings around his eyes.

Keith Iddon ● 1141d

He's a failed Lawyer.  Politics is stuffed the the rafters with them

Raymond Havelock ● 1141d

I don't usually listen or watch election debates but am watching the one on BBC1 now.As a casual viewer who hasn't really watched Khan,I don't think he's much of an orator and doesn't hold the lectern that well.He is not a convincing speaker imo.

Keith Iddon ● 1141d

It’s actually more to do with persistent lying by those in authority. Instead of treating residents like adults, the prevailing attitude is to tell us one thing and do another (as in offer a non existent consultation) or simply not tell us anything at all.Obviously Boris Johnson sets the standard for truth economy, but Ealing Council is rapidly rising through the ranks.

Simon Hayes ● 1141d

It is to make it safer for those who are not driving. It does. I suspected it has a lot to do with with this Govt's favourite game of divide et impera.

Philippa Bond ● 1141d

What Simon was suggesting was that some roads are fine to do 30mph on, there being no houses, schools, hospitals etc . I think it's a case of the local council and any Labour council for that matter wanting complete control over us, just look at the daft 'at any time' bus lanes. At 02.00 on a Tuesday morning for instance, must be loads of congestion then?

peter king ● 1141d

I've just got used to driving at 20mph now, the main problem being all the tailgating and dangerous overtaking from the impatient.According to my onboard computer, my average speed around London is about 12mph so it's not like I'm being held up.

Susan Kelly ● 1141d

The notion of bringing in 'weirdos' to make policy was very much part of the original purpose of Johnson when he first came into power with Dominic Cummings the driving force.The theory is that government is hide bound by procedures and red tape which makes genuinely constructive policy making impossible and therefore original thinkers need to be freed up to improve society.This appeals to Johnson who doesn't read complex policy papers and can't deal with nuance or ambiguity so he loves it when someone comes to him with a simple solution to a complex problem. He will have loved it when Gilligan told him about Experimental Traffic Orders and how they did away with the need for any of that consultation nonsense.

Mark Evans ● 1141d

The 20mph speed limits were introduced as a ‘trial’ a couple of years ago. I made an FOI request to the council about how the trial was to be conducted, what data had been collected prior to implementation and what consultation was to be carried out.Guess what. They said there was no data. They weren’t going to monitor the effectiveness of the limit. But they did say there would be consultation with residents, which never happened.Then, amid all the LTN furore last summer, the trial was quietly made permanent.While the 20mph limit might be appropriate on some roads, it clearly isn’t for others. Even buses regularly exceed the limit.But for fans of Bell and his authoritarian antics it’s doubtless a good thing that he simply pushed this through under the guise of a ‘trial’.If Ealing residents weren’t so gullible there might even have been a querying of this.

Simon Hayes ● 1141d

Gilligan is a very weird character, tangled up in very odd reporting of the Kelly case. chequered history on newspapers, then turns up hijacking a widely supported campaign to keep the Routemaster bus and conductors until a proper 21st century replacement is developed,Then Pops up working for the Evening Standard, then all of a sudden becomes a cycling expert and weasels his way is to a salaried position within the GLA gravy train.Now an advisor the the mayor.But he's always been a crackpot, ready to jump one any bandwagon, not unlike many others of this ilk. No real knowledge or pedigree, just know how to play the system.

Raymond Havelock ● 1141d

I noticed in the back pages of an actual local newspaper the other day that EXPERIMENTAL 20mph limits have been applied in the Labour heartlands out west. The rest of us have had them for some time, are they experimental as well like the LTN's may be removed at a later stage?

peter king ● 1141d

While I agree the environmental case for LTNs has never been convincingly made it must be stressed once again that this is a Conservative government policy. The current structure in which Experimental Traffic Orders are used to implement schemes like this was dreamed up by Andrew Gilligan who acts as the Prime Minister's special advisor on transport.Gilligan's thinking on transport matters is far more radical than Sadiq Khan's. Gilligan hates Khan because, when he became Mayor, he unwound some of the dafter schemes he had drawn up and didn't proceed with most of his ideas. Now Gilligan controls the purse strings and TfL and local authorities can only currently get funding for schemes like the LTNs.LTNs have been implemented in Conservative local authorities and the Labour party in the area has opposed them.

Mark Evans ● 1141d

How can creating all the extra fumes in Hanwell, West Ealing, Northfields, South Ealing, Chiswick and Acton help the planet to survive?How can creating this constant Gridlock and idling traffic help the planet?In my case a former one minutes drive from Raymond Avenue to Northfields Pharmacy or Surgery for mum is now a 20-30 minute drive via two other Towns (Hanwell and West Ealing) or via Brentford. Every other Town and City must be the same.All seem to have Conservatives campaigning to remove the LTNs and Labour wanting to give us more of them. Even Shaun Bailey wants the people to have a say on what ones stay or go, Khan just wants to ram them down our throats. There is more to this than the cycling 1% of the population Khan and Bell think are superior.

Leslie Bailey ● 1141d

LTNs come from central Govt.  Just have a Google - they are all over the country and not just England.  Edinburgh has them as well.  Wake up to the bigger world and to the changes needed for OUR planet to survive.

Philippa Bond ● 1141d

I see Southall Town Centre now has it's own LTN, no more right turn onto South Road from Park Avenue by the station.This should focus minds a bit more on what Khan and Labour will mean to the future mobility of Londoners.It's already causing anger there, so along with the Uxbridge Road plans, I don't see it all being plain sailing for Khan.This is happening London-Wide and is a very high impact scenario for the populations.

Leslie Bailey ● 1141d

I don't think Mark is right when he implies that LTNs will not have lost votes for Sadiq Khan. We've seen numerous examples on this forum of people who believe LTNs are originally his policy and I think that is reflected in the broader population. He will be seeing a negative impact from this but it isn't noticeable because, although there are LTNs spread across London they affect relatively small areas. Getting a Tory mayor was a forlorn hope but before these polls came out there was a chance the Conservatives might have hoped to have won back the local London Assembly seat. Even with a candidate who doesn't appear to be that popular with local party members they would have thought they had a chance when the election was declared. However, this looks unlikely now. There will be an LTN boost for the candidate but this is unlikely to be enough. Only about 20,000 people have been directly affected in the borough which represents a small proportion of the electorate.

Gordon Southwell ● 1141d

'I still don't see Khan as winning it.'Then you are living in a fantasy world.

Susan Kelly ● 1141d

His lead is massive - you could bet your house on him winning.There is a broad understanding that the LTNs are a Conservative policy being implemented by a Labour Council so they are unlikely to have a big bearing on the Mayoral elections.LTNs aren't just being implemented in Ealing but several other boroughs across London and the polls are giving a pretty clear indication that voters aren't blaming the Mayor for any problems arising.

Mark Evans ● 1142d

I still don't see Khan as winning it.Khan has overseen the LTNs and openly supports more of them against the wishes of his core voters, knowing they stop cabs taking you all the way to your door. There is also the cycle lanes that are empty of Cyclists.All of the above has killed off relying on buses in the affected areas to get you to work, again inflicting misery on his core voters. What he and Ealing Council has planned for the Uxbridge Road is not going to please the people of Southall either.At least Shaun Bailey claims he wants the people in those areas to have a say on what ones stay or go, but that flies in the face of Johnson and Shapps, who seem to be be trying to derail his funding.Rose and Fox are too fringe to be serious.

Leslie Bailey ● 1142d

No, it's what independent polls are saying. Sadiq Khan has his limitations but Londoners have not been fooled by opportunistic attempts by the Westminster government to undermine him for instance by refusing to pay for the repair of Hammersmith Bridge and forcing him to implement unpopular policies by starving TfL of cash.Unlike the Prime Minister he has been cautious and right about handling the pandemic. It is extraordinary that in such difficult times he looks set to win an outright majority on first preference votes.

Mark Evans ● 1142d

Is this a Conservative tactic to get us all out to vote saying that Khan will win by a landslide...

Nicolas Ozegovic ● 1142d

Have to agree, Khan has proven ineffective and incompetent, definitely needs replacing.As does BellEnd.God help us.

Rosco White ● 1142d