[Closed] Zac Goldsmith

Lynton Crosby was knighted today...

It's funny that, I was thinking how our rabid right-wing shills had been very quiet about London today. 😆

Goldschmidt eh?

Seems Londoners don't want a racist old Etonian as their mayor.

Unless it's got funny hair.

You're allowed to be racist, just don't mention Hitler.

Seemed like a bit of a sacrificial lamb, tbh - he had no chance. Completely inept political performer, so he was never electable to a song-and-dance role like Mayor of London.

Lots of the party turning on the campaign now it's over - and rightly so.

How much does a London mayor earn?

In other part of the world it is an opportunity to get kickbacks ...

Who are going to be awarded projects? Own clique?

Loads of money!

😛

just don't mention Hitler.

From Ed Morrish;

"Your name?"
"Ken Livingstone"
"Your specialist subject?"
"Not bringing up Hitler"
"You have sixty seconds and your time starts n-"
"Hitler"

Garry_Lager - Member
Seemed like a bit of a sacrificial lamb, tbh - he had no chance.

he was the bookies fave b4 xmas

How much does a London mayor earn?

Not enough according to Boris Johnson.

Johnson had to top up his paltry £143,911 mayoral salary to half a million quid by doing a couple of other jobs.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/boris-johnson-tax-return_uk_570bcf9ce4b07a35187c6733

jimdubleyou - Member

Lots of the party turning on the campaign now it's over - and rightly so

Yup. Victory is never dishonourable, right?

I'm sure the Tories were desperate to keep control of London, so this result is a terrible shame.

Official result delayed until midnight due to possible 'serious counting error'.

Ah.

he was the bookies fave b4 xmas

ernie_lynch - Member

How much does a London mayor earn?

Not enough according to Boris Johnson.

Johnson had to top up his paltry £143,911 mayoral salary to half a million quid by doing a couple of other jobs.

Crikey, this looks like a money spinning job.

The question is which one of them mayor (past and present) can milk the job/system so well to retire handsomely for several generations ... without being caught.

Also let see which one is dumber to be caught while milking the system.

😛

it was a mismatch.

Perhaps, but the problem for the Tories was that they had to choose a mayoral candidate who was perceived to be independent of a Tory government. In that respect Zac Goldsmith was the ideal candidate.

Remember Boris Johnson relied heavily on portraying himself as an independently minded Tory. And before him Ken Livingstone was seen as very independent of the then Labour government.

What appears to have really screwed Zac Goldsmith is that the Tories completely failed to learn the lesson that the UKIP Deputy Chairman learnt exactly 2 years ago - when asked why UKIP had done so badly in London, compared to the rest of England, she explained that it was because London is "educated, cultured and young".

Don't try to scare Londoners with bollox about scary Muslims. I try to remember that 40% (iirc) of Londoners were born overseas.

Don't try to scare Londoners with bollox about scary Muslims. I try to remember that 40% (iirc) of Londoners were born overseas.

The litmus test is simple once his term is over try to get another Muslim candidate to stand for the position (assuming no other Muslim candidate about), then see if that person gets the job.

You should have a clearer picture then ...

You should have a clearer picture then ...

Thank you - I'll bear that in mind.

ernie_lynch - Member

You should have a clearer picture then ...

Thank you - I'll bear that in mind.

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now zac hold this pint and people will think your an everyman. What?!! not like that! oh shit 😆

wait it gets better, the sun had him in a kebab shop

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and working as a postie last week

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Wow that pint picture! Yuck

He is my MP and has been very successful locally. I think he is a good MP as do many of his constituents, he has turned the seat into one of the highest majorities from a LibDem marginal in one term, but he is not a great campaigner. He really knows his constituency and is always well informed.

Sadly he allowed his campaign to be dominated by his attacks on Khan's past associations because he didn't really manage to cut through with any positive messages. There just wasn't the attention to detail you need in a high profile campaign and there is no doubt Khan fought a better one. I think London is slightly Labour naturally, but it was still winnable.

Exactly mefty, in the most prosperous borough in the country his good breeding, tax avoidance expertise and airport nimbyism stands him in good stead, across the rest of london he was forced to resort to some fairly desperate borderline racist smear tactics, even I thought he was better than that.

It just shows that money can buy you the best education in the world but you can still be as thick as a post.

I think London is slightly Labour naturally, but it was still winnable.

London is more than "slightly Labour", which is precisely why it has historically provided recurring headaches for Tory governments.

Fed up with consistently losing elections in London a Tory government decided in the 1980s to disband the LCC and replace it the GLC, which would include Tory-friendly leafy suburbs such as your own Richmond Park.

Yet despite this little creative gerrymandering by the Tories Labour still annoyingly won GLC elections. So the Tories simply put an end to it in the 1980s by abolishing London-wide elections altogether, making London the only major capital city in the world without a unitary authority.

Richmond is not the most prosperous borough in the country. That's about 3 miles away in Kensington...

I think his lack of a clear personality was always going to struggle in a predominantly Labour city.

It will be interesting to see how Khan gets on - Livingston did some good work but was tarnished by cronyism. BoJo has been broadly successful in pushing forward through a recession. I suspect Khan wil turn out to be passable too.

Kensington is the richest, with longest life expectancy of any city borough

But (according to some PR bollox I read once) for

The UK's most prosperous areas - For health, wealth, education and success, head to Richmond upon Thames

http://www.directlinegroup.com/media/news/brand/2014/10-03-2014.aspx

I love Bollywood. So does Zac.

As Jimw says Richmond not the most prosperous just the most highly educated.

I'm fairly sure no one has claimed that Richmond is [i]"the most prosperous borough in the country"[/i].

I did however suggest that Richmond Park is a Tory-friendly leafy suburb.

Would you agree?

London is more than "slightly Labour", which is precisely why it has historically provided recurring headaches for Tory governments.

I chose my words quite carefully as when we discussed the relative prospects, you didn't think Labour had a significant advantage. The Tories will need another Boris to win again and Zac, for all his qualities, doesn't have Boris's campaigning abilities.

he has turned the seat into one of the highest majorities from a LibDem marginal in one term,

I did however suggest that Richmond Park is a Tory-friendly leafy suburb.

It is now, strange to think that Jenny Tonge was once MP here.

I chose my words quite carefully

Well I choose my words very carefully.

And all while the lib dems were doing so well elsewhere...

His swing was large even in that context.

It is now, strange to think that Jenny Tonge was once MP here.

Read my post again. I was referring to the situation in 1965 when the GLC was formed.

Well I choose my words very carefully.

I appreciate you took a historic perspective.

Sorry there is some crossing of posts and I was replying to others as well which has confused the picture.

Actually I've re-read my post again and despite choosing my words very carefully there's a typo, I of course meant to say :

A Tory government decided in the [i]1960s[/i] to disband the LCC and replace it the GLC (not 1980s).

But knew that I'm sure 🙂

I'm fairly sure no one has claimed that Richmond is "the most prosperous borough in the country".

I did however suggest that Richmond Park is a Tory-friendly leafy suburb.

Would you agree?

Kimbers did, one post above yours an hour ago.

It includes some bits of North Kingston, so some not so nice areas. I would say it's typical middle-class, lib-dem territory and since they died on their arses the whole constituency is conflicted 🙂

It includes some bits of North Kingston, so some not so nice areas. I would say it's typical middle-class, lib-dem territory and since they died on their arses the whole constituency is conflicted

Zac got over 50%, second got less than 20%, there ain't alot of conflict.

I think we're getting into semantics. In the same post he said "Kensington is the richest". And he was responding to your post, not you responding to his.

Indeed. I was responding to his previous post...

And I agree, Richmond is a nice place to live, but the borough covers a wide area with a few pockets of deprivation as well as the leafy bits.

Richmond Park is obviously a subset of the borough as a whole.

Expected result, congratulations to Kahn who can be a real positice force.

Very hard for a Tory to win given London's political bias, Boris was exceptional and Goldsmith imo was a strange choice of candidate.

@dd just had 2 wonderful days in the Lakes followed by today in the North Yorkshire Dales - rather more interesting the STW chat threads. Elections have gone as expected with slight surpirse that SNP have lost their majority and UKIP success in Wales,

Can we just agree that Richmond is a nice place and that mefty is very lucky?

Of course...

Technically they are south of the river too. Scumbags. 😈

It includes some bits of North Kingston, so some not so nice areas.

I think what is being missed here is that the likes of Goldsmiths constituency and that of James Berry's next door, is that there has been a large change in the demographic make up of these areas.

In other words more tory voters have moved in.

Can we just agree that Richmond is a nice place and that mefty is very lucky?

Yes, but Croydon is much maligned - the figures I heard quoted at a meeting for how many refugees that Croydon has people willing to house them were astounding.

Some interesting comments tonight, I see Ken Clarke's described Goldsmith's campaign as "eccentric". Livingtone'll be kicking himself for not using that line.

Croydon is part of the London doughnut ring! We had a Tory council a couple of years ago. We even had the first LibDem MP in the UK. Much maligned yes, but we're proper posh.

Boris was exceptional

Well, he was certainly different...

Let's hope Saddiq Khan has bought a hands-free kit. And good luck finding that story anywhere on the internet.

Our Tory PCC got back in, and even managed to blame serious and organised crime in Thames Valley on our leaky national borders...

The Tories fielded the wrong candidate.

What is he known for/successful at?

Semantics indeed, my comment was based on a survey of insurers who reckoned a combo of wealth., education, house prices, life expectancy, access to big parks 😉 etc made it the most 'prosperous'. I lived over the river and looked on with envy* from Brentford for several years.

Zacs sister has tried to say that his campaign didn't reflect his real beliefs, (just like most politicians, then)
Other Tories are also washing their hands of his tactics, conveniently forgetting that Cameron spent the whole of PMQs using them this week

It'll take a while to detoxify brand Zac

Boris was 'exceptional' but he was also lucky, he only got a second term by scraping past a lame duck Livingston, whom even the guardian had abandoned last time (Ken should've retired then)

* actually I preferred Brentford, if not for the pollution and murders would happily have stayed.

* actually I preferred Brentford, if not for the pollution and murders would happily have stayed.

And the Heathrow flight path. And the lack of Tube.

I see that Michael Fallon is continuing to perpetuate the smears started in the campaigm despite the threat of legal action from Suliman Gani.

#youlostgetoverit

Good riddance to the twisted piece of s***.

cut&paste from the Grauniad

Khan once met a man called John - I'm not saying it was "the Jihadi John" - let me be clear about this, I don't want to be misunderstood - but Khan has shared platforms with extreme groups before - and I'm just raising this issue because I think it is important - that Khan is dangerous. I'm not emphatically linking Jihadi John and Khan - that would be a mistake, and I am not doing that - and nor am I talking about Khan's faith. I am just saying Jihadi John is Islamic Extremist and Khan knows people called John, and that is just a fact - and shows what circles Khan moves in, and what Labour will tolerate.

I think I have been very clear that I am not saying Khan is an extremist or that he supportsJihadi John but that I personally think that Khan is very dangerous to London and is a member of Labour, and Labour might adopt a policy of stealing all your jewelery - those are just facts.

I am not making links, or saying anything I wouldn't stand by.

hora - Member

The Tories fielded the wrong candidate.

What is he known for/successful at?

Have you not seen his credentials as an environmental warrior?

[url= http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/lostinshowbiz/2009/may/15/lost-in-showbiz-trudie-styler ]Saving the world one private jet at a time[/url]

T[i]hen again, perhaps we simply lack Trudie's vision. In some ways she is profoundly consistent, having previously made the 80-mile journey to the home of fellow ­environmentalist Zac Goldsmith by helicopter. And barely six weeks ago she told the Guardian that she didn't bother carbon offsetting because "we should be looking at the bigger picture".[/i]

[url= http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/politics-headlines/zac-goldsmith-has-lavish-multi-million-pound-tantrum-20160506108643 ]Good take on it from the Mash[/url] 😆

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Nicely summed up by the Mayor of London

But David Cameron and Zac Goldsmith chose to set out to divide London’s communities in an attempt to win votes in some areas and suppress voters in other parts of the city,” he said.

“They used fear and innuendo to try to turn different ethnic and religious groups against each other – something straight out of the Donald Trump playbook. Londoners deserved better and I hope it’s something the Conservative party will never try to repeat.”