Don't mention the war (or Brian Coleman)

If you asked me to point you in the direction of a good blog by an elected politician, you may be rather surprised to know that I'd point you at the blog by the Leader of the London Conservatives on the GLA, Roger Evans AM. Rogers blog is interesting, factual and funny and he has a genuine love of blogging. As such he even makes Leftie Guardian blogger Dave Hills blogroll. Like all of us, Roger gets it wrong occasionally and unlike many politicians, usually puts his hand up. I am sorry to say that, for the best reasons in the world, he got it horribly wrong in his latest blog. This is all about the opening of a new Fire station in Harold Hill. It has some nice pictures and a bit of the history, all well and good. Sadly though, Roger neglected to mention the fact that the opening of the station had made the news on ITV's London Tonight.

What I found amazing is that there is not a single mention of Brian Coleman in Roger Evans blog. Given that he's the chairman of the LEFPA which commissioned the station and accompanied Boris and Roger, why can this be? The truth is that it's because he is a huge embarrassment. Whether Roger Evans has been ordered by Conservative Central Office to airbrush Colemans name out of all blogs, or whether he rather wisely has decided to impose a Pravda like policy of ignoring Coleman, I don't know. What I do know is that only Brian Coleman could make the opening of a new firestation into a "bad news day" for the Tories.

It is clear that the brave firemen who risk their lives on a daily basis cannot stand Coleman. They turned up en mass to let him know their feelings. Coleman places sensible and decent colleagues in an impossible situation. If they mention him it damages their reputation by association. If they ignore him, they show themselves to be Stalinist airbrush merchants.

There is a simple solution. Boris should sack him immediately and spare us all the spectacle of his smug mug on the telly in future.