Clause 13
Greater London Authority Bill
4:45 pm
Michael Gove (Shadow Minister (Housing), Communities and Local Government; Surrey Heath, Conservative)
And not, indeed, for the Labour party candidate, Mr. Dobson, tempting though it was. One reason for voting for Mr. Dobson would have been that our party leader at the time, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr. Duncan Smith), was leading a campaign to help the vulnerable, and I can think of no more effective way to have done that. There was also Steve Norris, who, as I remember, was the Daily Mirror candidate for the post. [Interruption.] Enormously to his credit. My memory might be playing me false—it often does—but I remember thinking at the time about who to place as my second, third and other preferences. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Battersea for stressing that one has only a first and a second preference.
The hon. Gentleman’s more substantial point was that Londoners cast their votes knowing that they are voting for an executive Mayor and a group of scrutineers. As my hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst said from a sedentary position, that fine constitutional distinction is, of course, the talk of London’s pubs and, I imagine, of the stand at Craven Cottage. However, I imagine that most of those who appreciate that the GLA assembly exists with a scrutiny role would want to see that role enhanced rather than diminished. That is the point of the amendment.