Friday, March 16, 2007
John Bird to Announce Run as an Independent?
Rumours have abounded that the founder of the Big Issue, John Bird, is being courted by the Conservatives to run for London mayor. Mr Bird is apparently very keen on the latter but blows hot and cold on the former. Not being a Conservative, I guess, is a bit of a sticking point. Anyway, if what I hear is right, it won't be too long before Mr Bird announces he will run as an independent. It should be an interesting campaign as I hear he has built up quite a stack of enemies in the media and among homeless charities.
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21 comments:
Forget Bird. Bring on Norris.
Sounds interesting. How has he made enemies?
I thought that Lord Coe was the ultra secret weapon for the next Mayoral elections?
David Cameron isn't a conservative, hasn't held him back has it?
The Hitch - tee hee.
Lord Coe? He of the Olympics bid that has gone up over 300% in two years and will probably go up to £20bn by 2012? You think Londonders may vote for Sebastian Coe? Are you mad?
erm, you're behind the times Iain. He declared ages ago.
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/dave_hill/2007/02/post_1039.html
"Blimey Iain. For most of that post I thought you were going to be nice about someone who's been rather successful at raising awareness of one of the biggest problems facing society, but you dropped a rather skilful delayed-bitch in the last sentence."
You mean raising awareness of an issue in an attempt to legitimise more left-wing attempts to infringe on our liberty. The self-righteous weirdo needs to be locked in a room where he can't tell people how to run their lives.
Ignore my last comment, for a second I thought this was the Opik thread!
Ironically, I just wrote a blog about "the Big Issue," on Thursday. "The Big Issue With the Flower."
Surely a stack of enemies is a sign that he is an effective operator? You don't get nowhere in politics if you're just there to make friends.
Wll, you can have Seb Coe, who has spent the last couple of years spending his days being filmed being best pals with the Labour leadership, when they should have been double checking their Olympic figures.
Or there is Steve Norris who has a consistent record in Mayoral elections of losing, and has spent enough time out of high profile Conservative politics to make him uttery obscure to new voters.
Either get Portillo to run, so that he is too busy to write his "I'm doing a u-turn on eveything I've ever done" columns.
Or... and I can't recommend this enough, someone go to the naughty step and see if Lord Archer is free.
Let's face it, Livingstone only won the first time because people thought it would be funny to vote for him, Jeffrey Archer would be the best joke since Iain Duncan Smith.
But Giuliani... don't forget Nick Boles, the chinless wonder who couldn't even win Hove with a huge election fund and an unknown Labour candidate chosen on an unpopular all-woman shortlist.
Boles might be a clever backroom boy, but he's a wooden candidate who seemed scared of campaigning in the poorer parts of Hove, so how is he supposed to win London? I was there in Hove, and he was dismissive of the traditonal party base and found it difficult to relate to ordinary working people. If he can't get those people along with him, who exactly will support him except the young lot in the leader's office?
I am a reformer, but I'm a realist, and the 2008 election will be a tough campaign, and we need a tough campaigner in return.
Norris, maybe. Coe, certainly. Boles, who?
John, Hove
Boles just comes across as an effete Tory toff. Don't know anything about John Bird but Steve Norris has the brains and the common touch needed. Don't send a boy to do a man's job.
'Sounds interesting. How has he made enemies?'
For a start John Bird hates the working class:
'The working class is violent and abusive, they beat their wives and I hate their culture.'
In fact he hates the working class AND students:
'I live near a university. All the women students have got their tits hanging out. The guys wear baseball caps backwards, swigging from beer bottles with their pants hanging out. They've watched the exotic proles and copied them.'
He admires Thatcher:
'In one way, I'm like Mrs Thatcher. I want to break big government. Norman Tebbit introduced me to her.'
Oh yes, he hates the anti-war movement and loves a good war:
'The only way to get some peace is after a good war. I hate peaceniks.'
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,,1856417,00.html
His campaign organiser (Nic Careem) has circulated an email saying that Bird is flattered to be considered by the Tories.
He claims that 90 per cent of homeless people have uncontrollable drink and drugs problems.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/career_and_jobs/public_sector/article1502739.ece
With such views no wonder he is flattered by the alleged overtures of the Tory party.
He's said in interviews recently that he favours means testing the congestion charge!
I'm not sure whether this means he might back the Ken Livingstone plan to charge cars entering central London according to their CO2 emissions, so that Band G cars like a lot of Chelsea tractors would be charged £25.
But then David Cameron hasn't been forthcoming about that one either. What's good enough for aviation ought to be good enough for 4x4s....
John Bird hasn't done anything much in years beyond self promotion. Sidelined by the BI as an irrelevance years ago whilst professionals get on with running it. A sad has been. One great idea and nothing since (apart from pissing away loads of dosh completely failing to succeed in the states).
Having said that, his history of nasty right wing views, posh totty and substance abuse ought to make him feel right at home with the current leadership of the Tory Party.
"No Longer Anon -- ha ha."
Yeah, yeah, we all make mistakes :P
'In one way, I'm like Mrs Thatcher. I want to break big government. Norman Tebbit introduced me to her.'
Sound chap, hope he runs.
el rio 1.47. Thanks for filling me in on why Bird has made enemies. Having read your post, I'll vote for him.
John Bird has talked about this before and said that he wanted to run for Mayor and, indeed, be Mayor to improve prisons in London. Somebody had better tell him that prisons do not come under Mayoral power. About the only thing that won't even after the new Bill that is going through Parliament now becomes law.
What about Boris Johnson, James Delingpole, or Nick Ferrari? Or, better still, Sean Fear over at pb.com
I agree with the comments made about Boles, he's all hat and no cattle.
How about Iain Dale as Tory candidate?
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