Progress!
And now, an announcement from the Green Party Centre for Popular Enlightenment, Propaganda and Agitation: the Observer has endorsed Sian Berry. Observe (hah…) their leader:
The traditional beneficiaries of protest voting - the Liberal Democrats - have failed to make an impact in the campaign. Their candidate, Brian Paddick, is undoubtedly a decent man, but he has been out of his depth as a politician. There is a stronger case to be made for casting ‘first preference’ votes for Siân Berry, the Green candidate. The party has already used its toehold on the London Assembly to wring green concessions worth millions of pounds out of the mayoral budget. A respectable score for Ms Berry, an intelligent and articulate advocate of her cause, would send a clear signal to whoever wins the mayoralty that London cares about environmental policy. It would also deprive the British National Party of fourth place, a small but notable step towards the mainstream.
But it is the ’second preferences’, used to top up the score of the leading two candidates, that will most likely decide who becomes mayor. Realistically, there are only two ways to use that vote: Ken or Boris. The unavoidable choice is between an incumbent whose record and character are familiar from many years in office and a challenger whose image and beliefs have been cynically manufactured for the campaign.
In short, in the cautious tones of a Sunday newspaper leader, advocating Sian first, and Ken second. This is a complete first for the Greens. That a national newspaper has endorsed a party candidate; that the party has more or less acheived blanket fourth party coverage; that they’re running at 4th in the polls all indicates just how much progress the party has made recently. A sign the new message appears to be getting through, perhaps…
I only hope it works out on polling day.
MAY 1st EDIT: From today’s Indy:
Sian Berry, for the Greens, on the other hand, has been an articulate, imaginative and effective advocate for her cause. With her programme for a greener London, with more cycle-lanes, cheaper public transport, more small shops and eco-friendly housing, she has come across as a forward-looking politician, committed to a better quality of London life. We hope she can continue to find a voice in the national debate.
So consonant are her priorities with those of this paper that, if we could vote for mayor today, we would place our first-preference cross against her name. This would underscore the importance of the environment to both London and to the rest of the nation. Then, and with rather heavy heart, it would be illogical to do anything other than make Ken Livingstone our second choice.
Gosh…
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