The Mayor of London Boris Johnson used his Conservative Party speech to say a lot. Admittedly, most of it was impossibly hard to follow, but he certainly did say a lot. One of the few tangible points I could pick out was when he stated, “Police numbers are up 1,000 on when I was elected“.
This struck me as strange. I thought I had heard that police numbers were being cut in the capital. Sure enough, after a quick Google search – it appears that Boris has actually cut police numbers by around 2,000. So how can this be explained? Is Boris refusing to face up to the truth? Or was this Boris misleading the public on purpose?
To start with, it is worth noting the wee disagreement between Boris and Dave. Or put more bluntly, that Dave isn’t listening to Boris over police cuts.
This is not an isolated case of Dave ignoring Boris though – on transport, the London Development Agency and perhaps most importantly on police cuts Boris has pitched himself against the government and lost in dramatic fashion.
Would it be any different under Ken, who boasts so proudly of increasing police numbers under his watch? Probably not to the extent that Ken would like to suggest. How about Brian Paddick (Lib Dem) or Jenny Jones (Green)? Maybe, both Jenny and Brian have strong track records on the police. Although if either were elected they would be working alongside a government who is slashing budgets the same way Boris was. It’s a difficult time ahead, but at the very least we expect a bit of honesty from on these big issues.
Hynd's Blog 