You wouldn't think they were in a church, would you? The lighting has combined with my duff photography to make them all look vaguely sinister. Left to right: The Blond, The Blonde, the Cannabis Cop and, filling in for Livingstone, Len Duvall. I recorded the whole thing from the third pew back, so have a listen. It's entirely uncut. The sound isn't great, but it improves after the vicar's introduction. Berry goes first, then Duvall, then Johnson - who launches his crime manifesto on the 29th floor of Millbank Tower tomorrow morning - then Paddick. After that, it's questions from the teenagers involved in the Commission On Young People & Safety In Islington. There's a brief account of the event in what follows: my latest for The Guardian, entitled Paddick's Problem.
"Support for Brian Paddick, predestined to finish third in the London mayoral race, beams in from all sorts of directions. There's the dope lobby, which likes him for his "softly softly" approach to cannabis possession when he was the top cop in Lambeth. The gay media regard him as one of theirs, which is no surprise, Paddick being gay. He remains a bit of a folk hero in Brixton, where an impressive campaign was launched to have him reinstated after a former lover told a newspaper - untruthfully according to Paddick - that 'the cannabis cop' had liked a toke.
"Three newspaper columnists have applauded his stance on crime, two of them - Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Nirpal Dhaliwal - endorsing him and the other, Suzanne Moore, saying he talks more sense about his specialist subject than Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone put together. Their enthusiasm reflects that of Sir Elton John and of 50% of respondents to an Evening Standard readers poll declaring that they "would" vote for him. But "would' is not the same as "will". And two proper polls have found that only eight percent of London electors intend making him their first choice in a polling station.It's obvious why: he's being squeezed by the Ken And Boris Show. And although the Liberal Democrat cause is usually helped by the publicity it secures during high profile campaigns, if the fight between the two main contenders remains close Paddick will surely suffer if Londoners vote tactically to keep out whichever of them they most dislike. How can he turn his popularity into votes?
Last night I saw him speak to a group of young north Londoners about knife and gun crime; a phenomenon they're only too aware of. Also at the gathering in St Mary Church, Islington were Johnson, Green candidate Sian Berry and, in lieu of Livingstone, London Assembly member Len Duvall, the experienced London Labour man who chairs the Metropolitan Police Authority.
There was plenty of agreement among the panelists that young people should be given more to do and listened to more, and that law-and- order alone are not enough. Any relaxation of the rules governing stop-and-search would have to be accompanied by great sensitivity on the part of the police and the building of trust on both sides. The Blond was again notably enthusiastic about encouraging the voluntary sector to provide more opportunities for young people, singing from the Cameron hymn sheet with the gusto of a man who's just stumbled into the Batmanghelidjh temple and there been converted on the spot. I wonder if he's overdoing it. Does he risk leaving a space on his right flank that a can-do ex-copper could occupy?
Paddick set out his stall with practised conviction. Islington was his first patch, and he recalled being free to park his panda car and have a chat with local kids without have to chase "stupid targets." He described listening to people in Lambeth telling him that crack and heroin were the real problem drugs, which was why it seemed to him that pressing charges over small amounts of cannabis was a poor use of officers' time. At a pupil referral unit in Elephant And Castle he was told by a group of black kids that they wanted to be protected by the police, not singled out for unwarranted attention. He called for "a new contract" between young people and police, such that the former have the confidence to feed the latter information.
All this was in keeping with Paddick's belief that stop-and-search should be more targeted more on weapons and "intelligence-led," part of his important case for more "efficient and effective" policing as set out in a weekend interview with News 24. At St Mary's his proposals won a good round of applause. He'll be used to praise by now, and has faced little criticism so far. Johnson and Livingstone have as yet no interest in bashing him, both being keen that Paddick voters make them their second preference. He's called Boris "a clown" and just knocked Ken's latest adjustments to the congestion charge, but these are small disturbances. If PC Paddick is to push up his percentages he needs to start breaching the peace.
How best to go about it? "I am the only serious alternative to Ken Livingstone," he said in his first campaign speech, suggesting he may believe that the Ass Factor makes the Johnson vote softer than the Livingstone. There'd be a consequence, though, for wooing Tory-leaning types who worry that Johnson isn't up to it - the more successfully he did it, the better it would be for Livingstone unless, by some miracle, he wooed them all. And that, of course, is Paddick's Problem - no matter what he does, he can't win."
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