Anders Hanson

Liberal Democrat selections don’t normally generate a buzz of excitement, but yesterday afternoon’s hustings for the London mayoral candidate showed that they can and with good cause. Despite struggling to get a selection going earlier in the year, the party can now be really proud of the people that are being put forward.

Chamali Fernando was first up and completely wowed everyone in the room. She was confident, passionate, articulate and managed that difficult feat of appearing to be intelligent and serious whilst also being fun and down to earth. She was less confident in answering questions from the audience, but that should not detract from a very able performance. If she is selected she would really bring something very different to the mayoral confident and she would stand out from the other candidates.

Brian Paddick started off by setting people’s minds at rest - he is not a johnny come lately as he was a Lib Dem member ten years ago but let it lapse when he became a senior police officer. His speech was articulate, funny and assured, and he thankfully did not talk in that strange stilted formal manner that police officers often adopt on television. He proved that he was a person who could not only be a brilliant candidate but also a very able mayor, and he was very good at answering the questions. He was also good at emphasising his human side by references to his upbringing in London.

Fiyaz Mughal was the serious candidate. I know that because he told us several times in his speech. I think in other circumstances he would have come across as a very competent candidate, but up against the other two he was quite bland and everything he said was long-winded with him frequently running over time, and he gave far too much dry detail about everything which I think is inappropriate for that sort of event and won’t work on TV or the press if he is selected. In fact his slightly snide comments about the other candidates on his own website, confirms to me why he is not the person to be our candidate. The main thing in his favour though is that he is the nearest to having done a ‘normal’ job with ‘ordinary’ people.

Having listened to all three I am still sure that it has to be Brian Paddick. Despite my praise for Chamali - and she really is very good - I don’t think she’s quite ready. Whilst she would stand out as something different, something fresh and could potentially really enthuse people, I believe that Brian Paddick is a much more credible person for the job. His position as a senior and successful police officer, and the fact that he has put liberal words in to action and shown it works, gives him a headstart in a campaign. He has also faced down critics and hopefully can do the same in a campaign that could be equally challenging.

BRIAN PADDICK

CHAMALI FERNANDO

FIYAZ MUGHAL