Wandsworth Conservatives

Last night I went to support my colleague Justine Greening, MP for Putney, in a debate about the Labour Government’s proposed expansion of Heathrow Airport and the inevitable extra number of flights. What a splendid performance was put up by Justine in addressing 700 local residents packed into St Mary’s Church, Putney ( the location of Cromwell’s Levellers Debates!) - they were in the church galleries and standing several deep all around the body of the church. The other speaker was John Stewart, from the campaign body HACAN. No audible sign though of anybody from the Labour Party !

There is no doubt that local people, woken up like my wife and myself in Wandsworth Town from about 5am in the morning by noisy aircraft coming into land, are solidly against the Government’s plans. And they are angry at the inadequate and misleading charade of a consultation about the plans, where most of us have not been sent the documents and have to read them on the internet, and we have no exhibitions staged by the Government to explain the plans .

If we need more airport capacity in this country, it should come from regional airports, not overcrowding Heathrow even more. And we should cut the transit flights and stop domestic flights from Heathrow, and we should encourage use of high speed trains in this country and to Europe. Then, if we still need more capacity in the London area, we should follow the excellent suggestion from one of my London Assembly candidate colleagues, Kit Malthouse to go east in the Thames estuary. 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article2925884.ece

UPDATE 5th FEBRUARY - In front of a packed audience of Battersea residents at Belleville School, in answer to my challenge the Battersea Labour MP has agreed to join Justine Greening MP in all-party campaigning against expansion. Battersea Conservative Parliamentary spokesman Jane Ellison spoke strongly in favour of all-party opposition to the Heathrow plans.

This week I attended a London television debate on ITV between the three main Mayoral candidates - the current Labour Mayor Ken Livingstone, our Conservative challenger Boris Johnson, and the LibDem choice Brian Paddick.

I don’t know in detail how it came across to the television audience watching at home in the hour before midnight on Thursday, but I got some definite impressions, largely the same as I have picked up from press coverage of the campaign since New Year.

Mr Livingstone. after almost eight very annoying and costly years for most of us looked tired, bereft of any new ideas but rather smug and complacent, trying to re-write the history of his period in office, and overall really grumpy.

Mr Paddick for the LibDems, an ex-policeman who weirdly thinks anybody who talks about policing policy must be an ex-policeman, seemed competent (at reading his speech and notes at any rate), but otherwise rather pedestrian.

Boris Johnson is undoubtedly fast growing into the role of Mayor-in-waiting. He is passionate about London and its future, particularly the safety of citizens on the streets and station platforms,keen to give us better value for money on trains and buses, determined to see our young people are trained and skilled, concerned about our environment, and powerful on how London must be run without wasting money on zany projects and propaganda. Above all, he also has a sense of humour unlike his opponents, and it makes him attractive to the young people who normally so often don’t vote in elections.

The four months to 1st May promise to be interesting. Bring it on - and Back Boris for Mayor!!