Anthony Barnett (London, OK): I have just come back from one of the most extraordinary political meetings I've ever been to in a long life of such events. It was the Mayoral hustings put on by London Citizens in the Methodist Central Hall, packed with well over 2,000 people. Neither the Labour Party nor the Conservative Party was mentioned by name and may just as well not have existed. The Lib-Dems and the Greens were named by their candidates but that was a sign of their marginality. The organisers put on a fantastic demonstration of politics from below, roll-calling the dozens of local organisations, schools, churches and faith communities that combined in what was both very London yet also drew upon American style populist organising and trade union solidarity. There was singing, there was a highly professional display of human causes unfolded with dignity and enjoyment. It felt genuinely representative. More on this I'm sure.
But now to the candidates. It should have been Ken's occasion but he seemed uninterested, administrative and almost out of touch. Sian Berry was right-on and said good things but seemed silly and unserious despite this. Brian Paddick spoke straight, like a good policeman. Boris won rather than lost support, but shouted at the audience.
The real star of the evening was London Citizens itself and the way it sought to pin down the candidates to its four main demands: to support a "London living wage"; affordable housing and official Mayoral backing for a "Housing Affordability Standard" (HAS); backing for "strangers into citizens" and an amnesty for irregular migrants; and a "safer city" backed by youth organisations. Boris strongly committed himself to support the principles of all four.
You can see how inventive - original and practical - the organisers of this extraordinary campaign are. Take the HAS. How is this calculated. They showed the revved up audience how, by their estimates, a family of four with the adults earning the London Living Wage of £7.20 an hour would have a weekly income of £469 and would need to spend £334 on their weekly non-housing needs, leaving £135 per week as their HAS, or what they can afford for housing.
Apart from the sheer originality of the event itself I was very struck by one aspect of it. It has not just been brought into existence by the fact of a London Mayor, it is also shifting the national agenda. London Citizens backed the campaign for fair treatment for illegal migrants and asylum seekers, and Strangers into Citizens is beginning to take off, with Boris Johnson as an advocate. It would have been untouchable in national politics where the main parties are prisoners of the media and dependent on swing voters in marginal constituencies. But a progressive and, indeed, obvious and practical demand is gathering pace because it is rooted in the experience of Londoners who have a PR system of voting.
This is democracy in action.
