Evening Standard Debate - Introductory Speeches

This was the third Evening Standard debate that I've attended and the first to see all candidates pitched against each other, on the platform. The first debate was with Boris (a fairly busy Cadogan hall c. 600 people), the second debate was with Ken (a packed RSA c. 300), today's debate was back in the Cadogan hall and the place was heaving, both downstairs and upstairs (c. 800). I'd thought I'd be pretty near the front of the queue, arriving at 5:50 when the doors were meant to open at 6:15, but there was still an impressively sized cue. As we waited a few local campaign groups were unfurling banners; Local shopkeepers, Anti-Western Extensioners, no congestion charge.
Once through the increasingly tighter security (named tickets and photo ID required) we raced to the front of the room to find 4 rows of seats reserved for VIPs.
The evening started with an introduction from the editor of the Evening Standard. A tombola was used to decide who should speak first from the 3 candidates. Each candidate pulled out a number and as they were read out cheers went up, hoping that these numbers would be prescient.
Boris - 1
Brian Paddick - 2
Ken Livingstone - 3
The debate started very amicably, with Boris complementing Livingstone on raising awareness of the office of mayor. A bit m0re banter followed, but when some of the audience shouted requests to remove the now redundant tombola from the desk, because it was obscuring their view of Boris, it was only the ex-policeman who not only listened but also had the gumption to act.
I was pleased to see a bit of humour creep back into Boris's performance as he reminded us of two of Ken's more famous quotes (Only a de-humanised moron would remove the route-master and I'll only run for two terms). He's rightly had to focus on his serious nature and reveal this side to those who doubt he has one! But the odd joke now and then reminds us of his personality.
Boris presented first his plans for housing, speaking about joint ownership as the way to give first time buyers a help onto the property ladder. He also spoke about obtaining more GLA land for redevelopment (similar to his idea to use more brown field sites) - none of which I must admit sounded that radical, and made me think that there must be a very good reason why they have not done that so far. Boris also circled his policy of preventing 'garden grab' across the capital and re-iterated his vision of an aesthetically pleasing (ie. restrictions on sky scrapers and architecture), locally planned London.
Boris then moved onto the environment and talked about the uselessness of the 25GBP congestion charge, suggesting that the amount of Co2 it will save is equivalent to a herd of cows. But his main point was to say that there is more congestion with the charge than there was before and that traffic sitting at lights, rather than flowing is the biggest generator of pollution.
Boris also talked about creating penalties for utility companies if they go over the allocated time to take the roads up (although later Ken tried to blame Thames Water for all the congestion in central London, and Paddick reminded him that it wasn't just the utility companies who were to blame).
Boris's 3rd plank (after housing & environment) seemed to be the most important to him, Security. It is a simple message, that is getting slightly lost amongst all the other policies and manifestos that he is putting out (even when challenged to give his vision, unfortunately there was so much, this got lost again).
Boris stopped short of saying 'zero tolerance' but that is the direction that he is moving in, saying that a crack down on small crimes would help combat the rise in more serious crime and discourage offenders. Boris also shifted the responsibility towards the voluntary sector, indicating that not only individuals but also large companies should be involved in working with and possibly funding community projects.
And of course Boris mentioned one of his strongest (public friendly) policies of doing away with all the advertising and publicity that the mayor's office constantly generates and using the budget instead for more Police Community Support Officers.
Overall, Boris was talking nine to the doze. He started off sounding like an impassioned speaker, energetic and excitable, and making the audience think that he has so much to say, so much to do. However, by the time he was reminded by the chair, Anne McElvoy, that he should be wrapping up he tried to squeeze in his final words, by speaking at double the rate. On anyone else it would have sounded a little bit unpolished and maybe desperate, but on Boris it sounded eager, just.