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| Zac Goldsmith looks a potential Tory mayor but let's see some policies | Zac Goldsmith looks a potential Tory mayor but let's see some policies |
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| He’s a filthy rich posh boy who thinks we should be kinder to plants. Yet Zac Goldsmith isn’t Prince Charles. Unlike the heir to the throne and, for that matter, fellow Conservatives hoping to become his party’s London mayoral candidate for 2016, Goldsmith, the Tory MP for Richmond Park, can’t be easily portrayed as an eccentric. If so, it would have happened by now. He has the happy knack of being both out on a limb and firmly mainstream. He is young, handsome and well known. He’s become 9/1 third favourite with William Hill to win the election next year. Tories will be exultant that he’s announced his wish to run. He may not be a prince, but to his party he’s as good as one, a dashing hero from the Surrey fringe who may yet prevent Labour from reclaiming City Hall. | |
| The consensus is that Goldsmith has exactly what it takes to pinch the mayoralty in a city that has lately favoured Labour in most types of election, yet has rejected the party’s mayoral candidate three times out of four. Taking possession of the glass bauble next to Tower Bridge means winning votes from people who don’t normally pick your party, if not as their first preference under the supplementary vote system then as their second. Goldsmith, it is argued, will appeal to Green and Liberal Democrat supporters thanks to his track record as an environmentalist and even to some Labour ones. It’s hard to disagree. | The consensus is that Goldsmith has exactly what it takes to pinch the mayoralty in a city that has lately favoured Labour in most types of election, yet has rejected the party’s mayoral candidate three times out of four. Taking possession of the glass bauble next to Tower Bridge means winning votes from people who don’t normally pick your party, if not as their first preference under the supplementary vote system then as their second. Goldsmith, it is argued, will appeal to Green and Liberal Democrat supporters thanks to his track record as an environmentalist and even to some Labour ones. It’s hard to disagree. |
| Another factor is his history of Euroscepticsm, following in the steps of his financier father Sir James Goldsmith (whose political legacy he recently celebrated in The Spectator). Last autumn he endorsed his party’s decision to give the British people a referendum on continuing European Union membership after the general election as “just about right.” He was writing to rebut a Sunday Times report that he would consider joining Ukip if they sorted out their green policies, but underlined that he liked some of Ukip’s proposals for democratic reform and had been at odds with his own party over Europe. Ukip is less significant in London than in the rest of the country, but still won the third largest share of the vote in the capital back in May. Goldsmith might woo a few of their sympathisers too. | Another factor is his history of Euroscepticsm, following in the steps of his financier father Sir James Goldsmith (whose political legacy he recently celebrated in The Spectator). Last autumn he endorsed his party’s decision to give the British people a referendum on continuing European Union membership after the general election as “just about right.” He was writing to rebut a Sunday Times report that he would consider joining Ukip if they sorted out their green policies, but underlined that he liked some of Ukip’s proposals for democratic reform and had been at odds with his own party over Europe. Ukip is less significant in London than in the rest of the country, but still won the third largest share of the vote in the capital back in May. Goldsmith might woo a few of their sympathisers too. |
| But there are other ways of looking at how Goldsmith might fare, at least at this very early stage. Adam Bienkov reports that in a debate on pollution on Tuesday morning, he said there was a “very strong case” for strengthening London’s measures against high pollution vehicles, including backing new taxes on them. Boris Johnson has been cautious about introducing clean air policies, being eager to keep private motorists in the Tory tent. How far would Goldsmith go if it risked alienating them? And, of course, like every other candidate, we’ll need to see what he would offer on other forms of transport and the rest of the key areas of mayoral power and responsibility. Would Goldsmith pick the necessary fights with national government and big time property developers over affordable homes? How would he approach policing and regeneration? What would his big vision for London’s future be? | But there are other ways of looking at how Goldsmith might fare, at least at this very early stage. Adam Bienkov reports that in a debate on pollution on Tuesday morning, he said there was a “very strong case” for strengthening London’s measures against high pollution vehicles, including backing new taxes on them. Boris Johnson has been cautious about introducing clean air policies, being eager to keep private motorists in the Tory tent. How far would Goldsmith go if it risked alienating them? And, of course, like every other candidate, we’ll need to see what he would offer on other forms of transport and the rest of the key areas of mayoral power and responsibility. Would Goldsmith pick the necessary fights with national government and big time property developers over affordable homes? How would he approach policing and regeneration? What would his big vision for London’s future be? |
| On those small matters, we shall have to wait and see. They may tell us how much of Goldsmith is a seductive maverick and how much is just another Tory. | On those small matters, we shall have to wait and see. They may tell us how much of Goldsmith is a seductive maverick and how much is just another Tory. |