In 18 months of campaigning to win the battle to be mayor of London – spoiler: I didn’t win – I met many thousands of people. One of the most frequent things said to me was, ‘You’re not like a Conservative’ or something similar. Comments like these baffled me from the first to the last. If I’m not a Conservative, then who is? David Cameron used to say that it didn’t matter where you came from; it is where you are going. True. But values matter, too.
When I repeated case studies of Londoners struggling to pay the £12.50 Ulez charge, I was dubbed a ‘Flat Earther’.
Policies are built on values. At hustings events, I would say how ‘London’s values are my values too’, often to a soundtrack of Sadiq Khan laughing to try to belittle me. But I always say what I believe, and I firmly believe this to be true.
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