Lembit Öpik "left out in the cold"

Monday 21 March

Lembit Öpik "left out in the cold"

By Adam Bienkov 9:24 AM

Lembit Öpik admitted that his campaign to be Mayor had been “left out in the cold” as it emerged that not a single London Lib Dem had endorsed his candidacy.

The BBC Politics Show contacted every Lib Dem Council leader, Assembly Member and MP in London asking if they would back Lembit for Mayor. None said they would.

Lembit responded to his many critics in the party saying that “I’m not going to shadow box with people who may brief behind my back but aren’t willing to say so in public.”

He also denied any knowledge of a “Stop Lembit” campaign against him.

Lembit used his interview yesterday to pitch himself to the left of his party saying that the Lib Dems had failed to differentiate themselves from the Conservatives nationally:

“The Conservatives even in the coalition, still look like Conservatives. One of the concerns I had at the party conference was that we look too much like Conservatives as well.”

He also made his first and only policy announcement so far stating that if elected he would hold a referendum on whether there should be a 24 hour tube.

He admitted that in order to finance this, fare payers would need to pay “probably quite a lot more.”

With yesterday’s announcement from the Greens, The Lib Dems are now the only major political party not to have selected their candidate for the Mayoralty.

Their selection process was abandoned last year after only Lembit made it through the first round.