Don’t Vote for a Joke - Vote for London
Ken Livingstone will centre his last two days of campaigning for Mayor of London on emphasising his greatest strengths compared to Boris Johnson - his knowledge of London, his commitment to London and his proven ability as Mayor of the city.
In the last two days the campaign will issue a million post cards and newspaper advertising: ‘Don't Vote for a Joke - Vote for London.'
When Londoners were asked the question whether the candidates ‘understand the problems facing London ' Ken Livingstone led Boris Johnson by 15 per cent - 61 per cent to 46 per cent.
When asked Londoners were asked whether candidates were ‘out of touch with ordinary people' Ken Livingstone was considered more in touch by a margin of 11 per cent - 37 per cent to 48 per cent.
Ken Livingstone be will openly discussing his policies with Londoners and the media and be campaigning across the city.
Boris Johnson meanwhile was refusing to appear on the radio Today programme and his minders were adopting increasingly aggressive tactics to keep reporters from asking the candidate questions. This followed Boris Johnson's performances on Newsnight, Question Time and other TV appearances.
Ken Livingstone said: ‘The job of Mayor is to be the chief executive of London . They have to know about the city, they have to make the right judgements at the right time and they can't hide behind minders. Their job is to take the right decisions not make jokes about their latest blunder. Given the size of the Mayor's budget any other approach is likely to hit Londoners very hard in their pockets.
‘Even in the course of this election we have seen an astonishing series of blunders by Boris Johnson - the costing of his bus programme was not £8 million a year as he claimed but £114 million a year, he had to do a complete U-turn when he tried to call for referendums to overturn the smoking ban, his claim to ‘out-ethnic' an Asian presenter was greeted with ridicule, and he has been reduced to incoherence by every serious TV journalist who has interviewed him - such as Andrew Neil, Jeremy Paxman, or David Dimbleby. Now he is trying to get out of the Today programme.'
‘The fact that Boris Johnson is running scared as his handlers try to keep him away from further questioning after his TV performances shows he is unfit to do the job of Mayor. There is no point in trying to ask your minders to do the job when you have to take the decisions on billion pound spending programmes and there is no point asking your minders to deal with serious threats to the city such as from terrorism.
'My case is - don't vote for a joke, vote for London '