Afternoon:
10°c
Two Fridays ago, its wider significance lost on the media, something rather important happened in the Mayoral election. Not the revelations about the sleaze, the boozing or the arrogance. They're important too, but in a different way. Two Fridays ago, Ken, Boris, Brian and the Greens' Sian Berry signed a joint advert opposing a third runway at Heathrow.
What that ad showed me was a Mayor, though battered and bruised by Hurricane Jasper, still fighting the election more cleverly and effectively than either of his main rivals. The fact is that though Livingstone may be personally against a third runway, he represents the only party, Labour, which unequivocally supports it.
Whatever his personal views, a victory for Ken will strengthen a Government determined to push the project through. (And even Livingstone, by the way, quietly continues to back runway expansion at other South-East airports - just see page 110 of his London Plan.)
Thursday 1 May will be our only chance to give an electoral verdict on Heathrow's expansion, and the environmental cost it will have. It could have been a decisive swing issue for literally millions of London voters. Yet 10 days ago, at a stroke, Ken may already have succeeded in neutralising it for Labour, before the campaign has begun. Having joined with him, Boris and Brian will find it harder to attack on the issue.
A few days before that, we had Ken's first campaign pledge - to let pensioners use their Freedom Passes before 9am. By brilliant sleight of hand, he was able to take implicit credit (and his supporters are claiming it explicitly) for the Freedom Pass scheme, even though it is funded by his Tory and Lib Dem opponents in the boroughs, and they decide how it shall be applied. Why did neither of his rivals point this out?
In between denouncing his critics as racists, fascists, and embittered liars, in between plotting the downfall of various imaginary enemies, Ken sometimes pauses briefly to call for a debate on policy. Yes, please. Any such debate would show several of the Mayor's claimed achievements to be similar mirages.
But it can only happen if his opponents get their acts together. Boris Johnson, the Tory nominee in July and selected in September, has used up two-thirds of the time he has. Yet in that six months, we have seen barely a policy from him, or an effective deconstruction of any of Ken's. (And Boris, if Ken offers you a joint platform again, remember that elections are not about finding similarities - they're about finding differences, because democracy is meaningless without choice.)
For all Ken's crowing about his increased lead in last week's opinion poll, it showed the more important measure, his vote share, falling slightly. Mr Jasper may be having a slow effect but things take time to sink in - which is why Boris and Brian have no time to lose. Whether or not Ken is a drunk, they should want some of what he's drinking.
