London Mayoral hustings: Webchat with Zac Goldsmith MP, Conservative Mayoral candidate, on Wednesday 27 April at 9am

[BojanaMumsnet]

Hello

We’re pleased to announce a webchat with Zac Goldsmith MP, the Conservative candidate for London Mayor, on Wednesday 27 April at 9am.

UPDATE FROM MNHQ: The time of this webchat has now been changed to Wednesday 27 April at 9am.

Before entering politics, Zac ran The Ecologist magazine. He has been the MP for Richmond Park since 2010 and says he has been ‘focusing on local issues, such as free parking on local high streets, funding for Kew Gardens, and fighting against the expansion of Heathrow Airport’. According to his campaign, his plans for London include ‘working with the government to secure the funds and powers to deliver his action plan for Greater London: more homes, better transport, cleaner air and safer streets’.

Please do join the webchat on Wednesday, or if you can’t make it, please leave a question here in advance. And do remember our webchat guidelines; one question each only (follow-ups allowed if there’s time) and please do be polite.

The London mayoral election will be held on 5 May.

Thanks
MNHQ

Correction! In fact, Zac did not attend to any questions on pages 1 AND 2. Bit of a swizz.

@DMHM

I thought he did well, probably not as well as Sadiq although Zac's questions were probably tougher (at least he wore a tie though).

I would like to make my point again though about Mumsnet ignoring the big, important race in Scotland and Wales, especially as the three party leaders in Scotland are women!

We're not ignoring honest - we've got requests in for some key people but understandably they have v busy schedules and so far we haven't been able to arrange. We'll keep trying.

I truly didn't care about the sodding biscuit. I thought a lot of the answers lacked the solid backing up that I would have expected a forum like this to allow him to do. They remained promise-policies, without the point, example, explication I'd expect from a GCSE student. I found that patronising, to be honest.

And I don't know about anyone else but I have come away with the impression that ZG's campaign was orchestrated from Central Office and ZG's input was a slight green tinge. Sure, he comes across as affable enough - but the price of choosing to be seen as a hapless innocent, while the nastiness swirls around him, is that it leaves a strong perception of his having no back-bone or integrit - and also a non-vertebrate who would be willing to unleash such damaging forces at any time in the future. Worrying.

That is just my impression - a kind of lit. crit. on the performance. It's intended helpfully. I'm sure the focus group people will appreciate feedback on the opinion of a very average London voter.

If you look no real answers, dammit I wanted to be persuaded to vote for him

thecatfromjapan
Spot on. Sadiq Khan wins hands down between the two web chats. Not that I have decided to vote for him yet. But Zac just lost this web chat. Sorry Zac. And you conveniently ignored page 1&2 mostly. Which brings me to this:
rowan
I think the changed time of this web chat was absolutely inappropriate. Mumsnet only starts to wake up after 10.00am.

I've come away from this wechat with the impression that ZG only answered some of the questions, and superficially.

I still have no idea how his building plans will even make a dent in the 360,000 waiting list for social housing (his figures), let alone the huge numbers of people needing secure affordable housing. Building 50,000 new homes, with only possibly ?10% being designated 'affordable', without a rent cap on the rest, is not going to tackle the housing crisis in London and the knock-on effects elsewhere.

Maybe he genuinely doesn't understand the issues as they are lived by actual people.

SK definitely wins the debate for me, although he could be a bit clearer himself on his housing plans.

Zac Goldsmith, brought to you today sponsored by Pret a Manger.

Lol @ Ophelia. Someone probably spent 15-30 minutes carefully crafting which biscuit would give the correct impression of the light-as-air-policied-one - and you've destroyed it in one post.

I'd probably have chosen a jam puff for him: Lots of air; superficially sweet; leaves a sticky unpleasantness that's hard to remove.

@Valentine2

thecatfromjapan Spot on. Sadiq Khan wins hands down between the two web chats. Not that I have decided to vote for him yet. But Zac just lost this web chat. Sorry Zac. And you conveniently ignored page 1&2 mostly. Which brings me to this: rowan I think the changed time of this web chat was absolutely inappropriate. Mumsnet only starts to wake up after 10.00am.

Hello

We've just done a quick scan and Zan answered quite a few qs from early on in the thread including the second, fourth and sixth posts.

Apologies about the time - it wasn't ideal from anyone's point of view (poor old BojanaMumsnet didn't get her breakfast until 10.30) but Zac's schedule was such that it was the only slot available and we thought it was better to give you the chance to talk to him now rather than not at all. Wherever possible we try to hold webchats at lunchtimes or evenings because we know that tends to work better, but it just wasn't possible here. Rest assured we only do it this way when there's no other option!

Oops! forgot you were watching, MNHQ.

Sincerely, thank you MNHQ, for hosting this. I really enjoy the webchats.

@thecatfromjapan

Oops! forgot you were watching, MNHQ.

Sincerely, thank you MNHQ, for hosting this. I really enjoy the webchats.

No no, thank YOU (and everyone who took part at such an unsociable hour)

thecatfromjapan lol. That's funny. Did you miss the "test" post from him I am mean.
rowan yeah I am just whining mainly. It's definitely not your fault that his office gave you this slot only. His office must have checked the general mood on Mumsnet. Or may be they just didn't care (this makes more sense as this is what their attitude is right now after winning the election last year)

That was disappointingly light. Not that my opinion matters since I'm not in London but there was a time when I thought ZG had potential. Either he thinks MN only expects superficial puff pieces or that really is the depth of his campaign.

I'm obviously very disappointed that Zac did not reply to my question, but I'm pleased to see others supported the sentiments I raised.

Ophelia,

Sounded throughout like he either couldn't be arsed or was out of his depth. I feel there are cleverer, darker forces lurking behind the glossy, well-meaning facade.

MNHQ - this is the first webchat that I have taken part in and it seemed a bit chaotic. Was Zac able to choose the questions he wanted to answer? If that's the case, the idea of a webchat seems pointless for election candidates. The candidate can avoid difficult questions and answer questions where they are strong. Also as they can see what questions had already been posted ahead of the chat, they can script responses (I don't think Zac did this, but a more prepared candidate may do).

Polyp news what should i expect ??