Lembit Opik wants to be Mayor of London

[longfingernails]

www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23850398-lembit-opik-ill-stand-in-race-for-mayor-if-london-w ants-me.do

Hmmmmmmmmm

No thanks lembit!

Would be nice to not have a celebrity politician as mayor for once.

Last week he wanted to be a stand up comedian, not a huge leap admittedly !

he's a comedian alright

The Mayor of London is always going to be a "celebrity politician".

London has shown in voting for Ken over Frank Dobson in 2000, and in Boris over Ken in 2008, that it is ready for politicians who are larger-than-life, and who disagree with their own party leaders all the time.

But Lembit is surely a step too far. Even people who hate Boris' clowning around and his policies generally, if grudgingly, admit that he is actually very clever.

What is the reason Lembit Opik went into politics? To prevent the world getting hit by asteroids!!

yes the asteroid scam is one reason why I don't trust Opik

i quite fancy being the Mayor of Naze

oh look. i already am

lembit is a bit of a joke politician really isn't he? how much do you think he costs as an after dinner speaker?

don't know about lots but Sian wotsit the weather"girl" and a Cheeky girl to name but 2.

Bless him, he must be missing the limelight. I thought he enjoyed being a stand-up comedian.

I think most things that begin with 'Lembit Opik...' are always a little bit of a joke.

He sounds like an anagram and any shred of credibility he had was long gone after that cheeky girl.

Oh christ help us and I thought Boris was bad enough

Lembit managed to lose one of the safest Lib Dem seats in the country, in a year when the Lib Dems had a humdrum but by no means abysmal performance.

i'd quite like the job

Fancies himself as the next Boris What aspirations!

Boris is doing an excellent job.

He has renegotiated some of Gordon Brown's disastrous PFI contracts - something Ken never managed.

He has funded new rape crisis centres.

He is getting rid of Ken Livingstone's hated bendy buses.

He is launching his cycle hire scheme next month.

Just today he has evicted the hippies who had built a shanty town in the middle of Parliament Green - protesting there is fine but living there just annoys everyone.

Most importantly he has kept council tax low whilst cutting out oodles of waste at City Hall.

Of course he has screwed up too but overall I think he has been a good mayor.

Lembit is a total joke.

I speak from personal experience of having met him on several occasions (he was MP for the next constituency to us).

Half of mid Wales heaved a sigh of relief when he went, poor London doesn't deserve to get him instead!

I quite like Lembit, but as he's a lib dem, it's not as if he has a hope in hell of winning.

zerominuszero I actually think that in mayoral contests, party politics, though still obviously important, isn't as much of a factor as in General Elections. Personality matters much more than normal.

Remember London chose Ken in 2000 even though he was running as an independent, not as Labour.

Of course if big personalities like Ken and Boris stand then others will naturally get squeezed. Brian Paddick and Susan Kramer were nobodies. The first rule of running for London Mayor: if people don't know who you are by your first name alone, then you don't have a chance.

I think Boris seems to be doing a good job and appears popular with people of all political outlooks.

Lembit has made a complete mess of his personal life and this must be the reason he lost his seat. People can no longer see him as a serious/intelligent/hard working politician.

I'm afraid he has gone from being an asset to being a liability for the lib dems.

Lembit's new wheeze: he is going on "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here".

The Lib Dems grassroots are tearing their hair out! :o

www.libdemvoice.org/lembit-pik-writes-why-im-going-on-im-a-celebrity-get-me-out-of-here-22031.html

The 'I'm A Celeb.. ' to 'Mayoral Candidate' route was also tried by ex cop Brian Paddick. Didn't work that well from what I remember.

God help us! What is it about the role of mayor of London that attracts such loons!

Chil1234 Did Brian Paddick go on Celebrity before or after his mayoral candidacy?

hahahahahahaha