Wednesday, 5 May 2021

Today is your chance to reshape London (and Edgware)!

Todayif you live in London, you have three votes (four if you live in Edgware or East Barnet). The one everyone seems to be aware of is the vote for the Mayor of London.  The odds on favourite is Sadiq Khan, the Labour candidate. It would be a huge shock if Khan was to lose. Given that I can't find anyone apart from Labour activists who are happy with him, I find this a bit odd on the face of it, but then none of them seem to have a clue who Shaun Bailey, the Conservative candidate is. In the history of the Mayor of London, there has never been a candidate with a lower profile for the Conservatives. I find it troubling that race seems to be playing a factor here. Despite all of the nasty things Mayor Khan has said about Bailey, I suspect that he's a more decent, honest, hard working person than the previous Conservative Mayor, a certain Mr Boris Johnson. I have a suspicion that he's spent too long with other Conservative politicans and activists and not long enough with ordinary people and so has become a candidate that doesn't really know who he is or what he wants. 

Personally, I would be far happier if both lost. Of course, I would say that. I am Lib Dem. I can put my hand on my heart and say that I am not giving either a first or second preference. When Sadiq Khan passed the NIMR development in Mill Hill, which has caused irrepairable damage to the green belt in Mill Hill, and planted a huge eyesore on the Green Belt, I said I would never vote for Mr Khan. I did in 2016. At the time I was not a member of any party. I have never felt so let down by any candidate. I realised that Mayor Khan is not in the least bit interested in anything or anyone other than has core support base. The Borough of Barnet is his sworn enemy, as the local Conservatives passed a motion in Council labelling him an enemy of the people. Whilst I understand Khan's antipathy for the Barnet Tories, taking it out on everyone in the Borough by passing deeply unpopular and massive developments is completely out of order.

I will be giving my first preference to the excellent Lib Dem candidate Luisa Porritt and my second preference to the Green candidate, Sian Berry who is also excellent. I believe that it is vital that both make as strong a showing as possible. I urge you to do the same. 

The second important vote is the GLA list. Again I urge you to vote for the Lib Dems here. The GLA is the authority that oversees the Mayor and the Lib Dem contingent, especially Caroline Pidgeon has been very effective at holding Khan to account. Caroline has been the most effective opponent of Khan in my opinion and has also been a champion of those affected by the cladding scandal. Here is her latest tweet. We need as strong an independent voice as possible. A vote for Sadiq Khan on the list is simply a vote for rubber stamping everything Sadiq Khan says. I don't believe that this will be good for London.

The list are not associated with constituencies, so they have no one to answer to apart from the party. 
The third vote is for the Barnet and Camden GLA representative. This was held by former Hendon MP Andrew Dismore. Labour have put Anne Clark up against the Tories Robert Weedon-Sanz. The Lib Dems have put Marisha Ray up against these two. I urge you to check out what Marisha has to say before you cast your vote. Marisha has been working her socks off to make the case for the Lib Dems in Barnet and Camden. 

And finally.....

In Edgware ward, it is a straight race between me and the Tory Nick Mearing-Smith. If you want to know my views on just about any subject, just search this blog. There are over eight and a half million words, writen about our locality since October 2008. If you want to know what Mr Mearing-Smith has to say, you can check out his Twitter account here. It is very interesting. 

Campaigning in a pandemic is not easy. I am disappointed at the limited time and opportunity I've had to do this effectively. When I've spoken to people in Edgware, they have got what I have to say. I have spoken to several Conservative supporters who have been disappointed at the way their councillors are invisible. Will this tranfer into votes? I genuinely don't know, but a mantra I've heard time and time again is that "We will certainly consider seriously voting for you". I've been there before in local elections and I know many people change their mind at the ballot box. What I can guarantee is that if I win, and I seriously believe I have a chance, is that Edgware will have the hardest working Councillor in Barnet. How can I say this? Well read this blog. Look at my business. Whatever you may think of me, you can't say I don't work hard. No one else has written 8.5 million words about our locality ever. I will sort problems out because I do not give up. I keep going, I talk to people and I find out how to get things done. You know that if you elect Mr Mearing Smith, you will not see him again until the next election. If you elect me, you will see an update every week on this blog saying what I am doing and I will meet you before the next election campaign starts. 

Here's a little film I made  in Edgwarebury park. Generally I hate political videos, but this has some great footage of the park, an excellent theme tune recorded by my band and some great shots filmed by a couple of wonderful young people who's Dad will be voting Conservative, but who was most happy to let them help me. They told me that they will deffo be voting Lib Dem when they are old enough (their Dad said his mum would disinherit him if he didn't vote Tory but he agreed with me!). I have a confession to make, their Dad is a customer of the studio and a very nice chap. I just hope I get the chance to represent his Mum, as I reckon I'd do a better job than the bloke she's going to vote for, but hey ho, you just can't win them all. 

The bottom line is that you have a chance to make London and Edgware a much better place today when you vote. It is now over to you. I have the courage of my convictions. Do you?

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Roger Tichborne is the Liberal Democrat Candidate for Edgware Ward in the May 6th By Election. Roger has run Mill Hill Music Complex sudios since 1979. He attended Orange Hill School and as a teenager lived in Warwick Avenue, in Broadfields.

This article was published and promoted by Roger Tichborne on behalf of the Liberal Democrats, 29 Millway, London, NW7 3QR


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