Finally, Vote for Diane Abbott for Mayor and give Sadiq Kahn your second preference. This is an odd one, there’s little to choose between the candidates on policy, although Gareth Thomas is for Heathrow Runway 3 and all the others oppose it. Jobs vs. Air Quality. I like Sadiq Kahn’s commitment to planting trees and buying up London’s Hospital’s debt, although there may be issues of ultra vires and I like Abbot’s bravery in pursuing rent controls, which should be Labour policy. With few exceptions, I expect each of the candidates to nick the best policies from each other, so it’s important to hear from them using their own words. Certainly at the South London hustings, Christian Wolmar was congratulated by several of the candidates for his transport policy initiatives and there’s little doubt that many of his ideas will make it into the manifesto.

The issue here is heart and commitment and I am supporting Dianne. She has a record of getting the big questions right.

dianneabbott2-w550

When I say finally, there are other elections to consider, these relate to Labour Party leadership positions, including the Conference Arrangements Committee, crucial if the members are to take control of policy, the National Policy Forum, again crucial if the members are to take control of policy although this body needs significant reform.

Vote Clark & Lansman for the Conference Arrangements Committee and in London, vote for Ahmet, Gavron, Or-Bach, & Murray for London NPF. Katy Clark & John Lansman are the left slate and are opposing the Progress slate of Michael Cashman & Gloria Del Piero. Clark & Lansamn are supported by the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy which is running a campaign, around the Charter for a Democratic Conference.  Cashman is a Progress sectarian and I have not forgiven him for his chairing of the rules revision debates at Conference 2012, tribune of the members he is not.  I am too old to vote for Phil Freeman, but if his name is on your ballot paper, go and look at this Phil Freeman for NPF and consider voting for him. This is pretty much the straight left slate, in 2010, when I rebooted my membership of the Labour Party I decided not to engage fully in the divisive factionalism that I remembered from my previous activism, but it seems that many with whom I disagree behaved differently and now so have I. We’ll have to see what happens next year when we get to vote on the NEC as I have little time for most of the usual suspects but that’s next year.

Dianne & Sadiq for Mayor
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