Comments on: Extraordinary rant from Fiyaz Mughal

By: Sally Jones

Sally Jones — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 01:39:45 +0000

Salem, I attended most of the mayoral hustings and I think that the mayor of London should have an experience in politics. The mayor should know what policies are all about, because he is running a whole city and has loads of powers. And if this wasn’t true then the liberal democrat members wouldn’t have raised the issue of policies in their questions to the candidates at the mayoral hustings. Moreover, in order to win over Ken & Boris, we should fight for The Liberal Democrat policies and be more politicians than they are.

Rob F, I attended the first hustings, and it was really like a birthday party, I don’t think that running for the mayoral seat is funny but a serious issue, where we as a party have to show that we are strong enough to stand for that.

Meral, I agree with what you say. Ethnic minorities should integrate more and more.

James, Fiyaz didn’t state that Brian isn’t experienced, because no one can take away from Brian his policing experience. We all know that Brian has got the profile as a Deputy Police Commissioner. But that doesn’t take away or cover up on Fiyaz’s experience in politics.

By: James Graham

James Graham — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 23:35:16 +0000

I have no problem whatsoever with Chamali or Fiyaz’s candidacy. My issue is with Fiyaz’s decision to lay into Brian in this way and the specific criticisms he has made. Brian isn’t merely a “big name” - he’s someone who has decades of policing experience and was deputy to London’s policy commissioner. We aren’t talking about another Boris Johnson or even Simon Hughes here: we’re talking about someone whose experience is directly relevant to the office of London Mayor.

For my sins, I supported Donnachadh McCarthy for the candidacy for both the 2000 and 2004 contests. I did so because he brought relevant experience to the table and because he had something unique to say. I wasn’t intimidated by the relative fame of Simon Hughes (or, lest we forget, Keith Kerr). And while I think the party made the right decision in selecting Susan Kramer, it was wrong to back Simon. You should know me well enough to know that I don’t support people who are perceived as “establishment” lightly.

Either way, is it really too much to expect Fiyaz to conduct himself with a little more dignity?

By: Meral Ece

Meral Ece — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 19:16:52 +0000

James, we’ve seen ‘extraordinary rants’, recently from MPs, during the Leadership contest, its nothing new. Its always going to be hard for ordinary party members to compete against individuals perceived as ‘big names’ trailed by the Party to the media for months. Its good and healthy that people like Chamali and Fiyaz have come forward. This is not an easy contest and not for the faint hearted (I’ve lost count of the number of poeple who were urging me to stand- I resisted for personal reasons) We have an excellent and diverse shortlist for London Mayor- unlike the other parties.

By: Rob F

Rob F — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 08:32:48 +0000

Youch. His follow up post is even worse. Bit of a shame - he wiped the floor with Paddick on the Politics Show at the weekend, and was first in line for my first preference as a result but eep… not now.

By: Salem

Salem — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 04:48:29 +0000

There are different arguments and styles of campaigning, Fiyaz Mughal is just showing what are his arguments style. If the Lib Dems in London are convinced that these are the arguments and style with which the London mayoral election will be won, they should select Mughal for candidate.

Personally I don’t believe that the Londoners will choose for Mayor the candidate with most experience and knowledge about Party structures, the culture of it and the policies, but each and everyone of course judges for him- or herself.