The Former Deputy Assistant Commissioner for London’s Metropolitan Police Service—and the UK’s highest ranking openly gay police officer—Brian Paddick has won the Liberal Democrats nomination for the Mayor of London.
On Friday, Paddick, 53, who previously said he wouldn’t run again after coming in third place in his 2008 mayoral bid, won by a narrow margin of 1,526 votes to London Assembly member Mike Tuffrey’s 1,476. In the general election on May 3, he’ll be up against incumbent Conservative Party mayor Boris Johnson and former Labour Party mayor Ken Livingstone.
A dark-horse candidate, Paddick has been an advocate for decriminalizing marijuana and critical of police action in both the recent riots and the voicemail-hacking scandal that shuttered The News of the World. A former contestant on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here, he’s been married to his partner, Petter Belsvik, since 2009.
We predict when word gets out Paddick’s been bathing in the blood of virgins to remain so goddamn gorgeous, it’ll torpedo his candidacy. Till then, best of luck, Bri!
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Adric
And if the virgin blood youth thing doesn’t tank his campaign, the fact that he’s running as a Lib-Dem certainly will. The party’s lost essentially all credibility after getting into bed with the Conservatives to form the current UK government. London may be known for its liberal leanings but its also an extremely conservative place where money (and politics) are concerned. This election is really between Johnson and Livingstone and while Paddick’s candidacy is definitely welcome, it won’t go very far. Support for the Lib-Dems has nose dived, especially amongst youth voters who were responsible for their showing in last year’s general election, and after several years of Johnson at the helm I think Labour won’t need to do much to pick up those former Lib-Dem voters for themselves.
Robert in NYC
I think Brian would make an excellent mayor! He would be the first legally married gay mayor if he were elected.
Adric, don’t forget it was the Liberal Democrats under Nick Clegg that officially adopted marriage equality as party policy. Don’t forget, the equalities minister is a Liberal Democrat too. This could be the catalyst to get a marriage equality bill introduced once the consultation begins this fall. The Labour Party needs to do the same to push Cameron into a corner with no way out but to support it if he wants to keep what little gay support he has. He didn’t exactly get a mandate in the election last year. The only way Labour will regain its losses is to get on board. It’s nice Ed Miliband supports it but it needs to be official policy which would siphon off any more gay support for the Tories.
Andrew Wells
The fact that he’s a Lib Dem in itself means that it would take a miracle for him to win. They have a serious image problem and beating Labour or Conservative any time soon is, frankly, inconceivable.
Robert in NYC
It’s a shame he can’t win though, but you know, sometimes miracles do happen. If this coalition government fails to deliver on marriage equality, the Liberal Democrats are finished and so too is the Tory party when it comes to gaining any more gay support.
Adric
Robert, I think you’re right that having a gay candidate front and center come election time could have a positive effect on ensuring marriage equality but I don’t think the issue is as contentious in the UK as it is in the US with regards to electoral politics. The fact that civil partnerships are recognized in the UK on a national level, where as they are not available on a federal level in the US, somewhat undermines the fight for marriage equality in the UK because recognition technically already exists. It is NOT marriage but for many left leaning moderates it’s perfectly alright. The issue here with Paddick, however, is not about marriage equality so much as it’s about his party’s non-viability in the London mayoral race. Paddick will undoubtedly have an effect on the consultation period regardless of whether or not he is running for mayor, just like dozens of other high profile GLBT celebrities. I’m all for the idea of a gay mayor for London but I don’t think his party will be able to energize the support he needs to beat Labour or the Tories.
Thomas Maguire
His last name has “dick” in it.
Robert in NYC
No. 5, Adric, I’m inclined to agree with you. My gut feeling is, in regard to marriage equality, that it will happen in the UK and isn’t that far away from becoming a reality. I do understand that civil partnerships confer much more equality at the national level in the UK than they do in America, not that same-sex marriage here does though, but I think an arugment can be made that civil partnerships are not equal to marriage, hence the name. Then there’s the question of portability outside the UK. There are more countries with same-sex marriage. From what I know, those countries with varying forms of unions for gay couples do not provide identical rights to those contained in the British version, another reason why marriage equality is important. Even Irish civil partnership aren’t completely identical to the British model. If anything, unions other than marriage undermine the concept of full equality. Civil partnerships, and other unions will NEVER be the gold standard around the world for gay couples and as such only separate or even segregate gay people with something similar to marriage under a different name. That…can never be equal.
stuart
brian paddock is a racist liberal idiot,,at the end of the lbc debate he said he wants to kick out the bnp and get a muslim woman mp in his party,,playing the george galloway race card wont go down well with white working class people like me mr paddock you bigot,,why did you not say you wanted a sikh,hindu, buddhist or christian woman as a mp in your party,,why does it have to be a muslim,,just sectarian bigoted racism that galloway played in getting elected in braford west,,you have been outed mr paddock and i was thinking about voting for you but not now..