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Let's forget Comeback Ken and go for Oona
Johann Hari23 Jun 2008
Wherever the London Labour tribe gathers, they panic and weep and commiserate about Gordon Brown - and then a new whispered discussion begins. Who should be Labour's candidate against Boris in 2012?
The political circumstances will be drastically different. The Conservatives will (alas) almost certainly have been in Downing Street for two years or more. London will be on the brink of staging the Olympic Games. If we are a jittery city - with the Games running behind schedule and over-budget - Boris won't be able to blame a Labour government. But if they look likely to be a success, Boris will probably have the political wind at his back.
Snuffling out mayoral candidates in a parliamentary system isn't easy. A political model dominated by party discipline doesn't throw up the charismatic individualists you need for City Hall. It pasteurises politicians, training them to be dull and not distract from The Leader.
The obvious contender is comeback Ken. He has already declared his intention to run again at the age of 67, saying this weekend: "Tell me if this is too much information but my prostate is as smooth as a billiard ball." I'm a fan of his, and I think his achievements will look even more impressive after the Boris and Dave Etonian wall game has dragged on for two years.
But Labour insiders appear to be uncomfortable with the prospect of Ken returning from the political dead. Some are even talking up Sir Alan Sugar as a possible Labour candidate - however implausible that might seem.
I think there is a better alternative: Oona King. She was born in north London to a Jewish mother and a black-American father, and educatedat the local comp. All through her career in London politics she has been driven by the issues that dominate City Hall: housing and transport. If you even mention the word "housing" in her presence, a three-hour lecture tumbles out about overcrowding and damp and council estates, all jammed with statistics, stories from her old Tower Hamlets constituency and the burning hunger to do more than Boris ever would.
Oona is down-to-earth, clever and a Londoner to her fingertips. Like Ken and Boris, everybody feels they know her. The issue that brought her career crashing down - Iraq - won't be a big factor, since City Hall has no say on foreign policy. The only reason that she might hold back is she has just adopted a little boy and wants to spend time with him. By 2012, we may well have a mixed-race President of the US. What better symbol of London than to pick a black-Jewish woman who has dedicated her career to lifting up the poor of all races as our leader?
Reader views (3)
With respect to the other posters, who cares if Johann refers to the 'Wall Game'. Is a common journalistic method and used against the Left as well. Why call Ken Livingston "Red Ken" - since the FT supported his re-election that isn't quite true is it?
As for the jibe against Eton, why not? Your argument is fairly silly - the point is that England is class ridden and that you can pay to get ahead (at somewhere like Eton). I would assume Johann would consider this a bad thing. So your comparison to NZ is just wrong. In case of sour grapes, I say this as an Oxbridge graduate from a fairly middling background.
On the substance of the article - I disagree that Oona has the will to succeed or will succeed against a 'celebrity' candidate. For some reason, that is required in London, and Ken would get my vote for 2012 if he decided to run.
- Chris, London, UK, 11/07/2008 08:24
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Why does being Black/jewish qualify Ms King so spectacularly as a possible candidate for the London Mayoralty? If being a product of diverse ethnicities and/or cultures is so important, does that make my lovely Maori/French/Scots/Bohemian/Prussian/English/Jewish grandchildren more qualified than their peers who posses a narrower ethnic and cultural inheritance?
And why the obvious but very obscure jibe about the Dave/Boris Eton wall game, and how is that germaine to the topic of the London Mayoralty?
I know nobody personally who attended Eton, but I do know that it is currently ranked as the best-performing school in the UK, so why does being an old boy of a school that gives its students an excellent education attract such bile from Socialists? Is it envy, or is it a manifestation of the dreadful class nonsense that impelled my English and Scots forebears to flee these shores during the 19th century and help create a less spiteful, more egalitarian social order in New Zealand? Oddly enough, some of the early English settlers prominent in the making of New Zealand were (horrors!) old Etonians.
- Kiwi Expat, London, UK, 04/07/2008 09:20
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"The Boris and Dave Etonian Wall Game"? This snide
comment clearly defines the mind set of Johann Hari, whoever he or she is.
Boris has started to clear out the mess left by Ken Livingstone and his gang. In four years time I, for one, expect him to have made a strong impression. Let Alan Sugar stick to what he knows and Oona King is history.
- M Wilkinson, London UK, 25/06/2008 09:10
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