The Big Smoke

My interview with Brian Paddick begins innocuously enough. The former deputy assistant commissioner for the Metropolitan Police force strides, all 6'2" of him, into a bare but functional office at Lib Dem headquarters near Millbank. He’s suntanned, relaxed, charming and upbeat, despite a recent YouGov poll that has him lagging 20 points behind Ken Livingstone and 30 points behind Boris Johnson in the London mayoral campaign. He seems proud of his openness and happy to talk. Well, he does at first…

The mayoral race seems to have become a duel between Ken and Boris. Do you really stand a chance?
‘On second preference votes I’m way ahead of the other candidates. The more people know about me, the more they love me. The more they learn about Ken and Boris the less they like.’

Traditionally, Lib Dems have always come third in the mayoral race.
‘I’m not a traditional Lib Dem. I’m not a politician. I’m open and honest about my views. Where I have appeal is to the 65 per cent of Londoners who didn’t vote last time. Here’s a chance for Londoners to say how fed up they are with traditional politicians and to vote for someone who isn’t one.’

You’re appealing to the ‘fed-up’ vote?
‘I’m appealing to the "time for change" vote. People can’t say I’ve misled them. [As a police officer] I’ve delivered for Londoners – Boris can’t say that and Ken is struggling to do that.’

You’ve been the most senior openly gay police officer in the UK, you’ve been dubbed the ‘cannabis cop’ for your softly-softly line on drugs, and you have made surprisingly positive comments about anarchy. Do you think your unconventional approach gives you an advantage as mayor?
‘Londoners like people who are outspoken. I am a stereotypical Londoner. I’m not your middle-class, middle-aged straight white man, who has a wife, two kids and half a dog. I do things that ordinary Londoners do. I get out in the city, I go partying.’

Where do you party?
‘Now I need all the sleep I can get as I’m running the London marathon, but I usually go to clubs in Vauxhall and Soho – my association with the Shadow Lounge is well documented. I’m not someone who knows more about the Henley Regatta than about London, or someone who’s stuck in the past and thinks all ills can be laid at Thatcher’s door.’

Let’s talk about your policies. One of your main promises is to reduce crime by 20 per cent by the end of your term.
‘According to Met Police figures, Ken has cut crime by 17 per cent over four years. But when you look at the British Crime Survey [an annual survey of the public], it shows that in the past 12 months crime hasn’t gone down.There is less confidence in the police and less reporting of crime.’

You’re saying the Met figures can’t be trusted – despite the fact they come from an organisation you were part of for many years?
‘It’s because they come from an organisation that I was part of for 30 years that I can say with confidence they are not reliable. Ken talks about a reduction of race crime by 50 per cent – but certainly the black and ethnic minority groups I talk to report increases in the number of racist attacks rather than any reduction.’

So how are you going to gain the trust of those communities?
‘I will take over as chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority [the body that scrutinises the work of the Met] and together with the Met commissioner will concentrate on the crimes that are most important, not pursue crimes set by national government. Now, the force gets one point on the police national league table if it records a warning for cannabis, and the same – one point – for spending 18 months investigating a murder. And that’s providing you get a conviction at the end of the trial. Police no longer respect what local people say to them and no longer pursue the crimes they report.’

Isn’t one of the problems that some communities don’t report crimes because they perceive the police as racist?
‘You are more likely to be stopped if you are black than white, and what has the Mayor said about disproportionate stop and search? What has the Mayor said about the shooting of an innocent Brazilian at Stockwell? The answer is nothing at all. When I called Livingstone on not being critical enough, his response was, ‘If the police do something wrong, I will criticise them.’ He may hold celebrations once a year for black and minority groups, but when it comes to improving the lives of those Londoners on a daily basis…’

Although it’s striking that at the beginning of his mayoral campaign a large number of black and Muslim leaders strongly supported Ken.
‘Sorry, it’s not striking at all. These were self-appointed representatives of the Muslim community, who didn’t address the other candidates’ track record.’

Would you up quotas to get more women and people from ethnic minority backgrounds joining the Met?
‘If you have a culture in the police that is sexist, homophobic and racist, it is difficult to recruit people from those groups and retain them within the police. When I am mayor, I will stand up alongside the Met commissioner [Ian Blair] and say, ‘We do not find disproportionate stop and search acceptable,’ rather than Livingstone saying Ian Blair can do no wrong.’

How on earth are you going to change that culture?
‘Police officers want to catch criminals, but you’ve got to understand police culture and change it gradually. Stop and search is a good example. I’ve written a report on how we can move from racially stereotyping people as criminals to targeting people who actually are criminals [regardless of race]. Things like getting an accurate description of people who have just committed a crime: Did the person have tattoos? What trainers and trousers was the person wearing? Did they have have piercings? Focus on that information, rather than just ‘a teenage black guy, wearing a hooded top’.’

Would you be able to work with commissioner Ian Blair — given that you’re on record as having various differences with him?
‘The MPA has considered all the evidence around [the shooting in] Stockwell, and assuming it maintains its current support for the commissioner, then we have to work with it as it is. I met Ian Blair just before Christmas. The conclusion I came to was that, were we to find ourselves in a situation where I were mayor and he commissioner, we are both sufficiently grown up and professional to put the needs of London first. I would have no difficulty working with him. The things we disagree on are tiny compared to what we agree on.’

But you haven’t stopped criticizing him since you left office. Certainly having read your autobiography, ‘In the Line of Fire’, the impression is that you are highly critical of him.
[Paddick is suddenly seething.] ‘How closely have you read the book?’

I’ve read most of it.
‘I think what you’ve done is read Ron Liddle’s review of it in the Evening Standard.’

I’ve read your book – it’s very damning about Ian Blair and the interviews you’ve done since you left the police force are also damning.
‘Well, that’s a very different book to the one I’ve written. I just don’t accept what you say.’

Why have I got that impression then?
‘I’m sorry, I can’t get inside your head.’

But you’ve said he should resign. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph last November, you said: ‘His position is unsustainable, I think he should resign.’
‘I’ve not said he should resign, I’ve said it was a matter for him. Only the MPA can remove him from office and it has decided to keep him.’

Okay, let’s move on. What would you do about overcrowding on trains?
[Calmly but frostily] ‘Given the gauge of the tunnels we have and the length of platforms, there’s very little that can be done on the Underground in terms of increased capacity. TfL’s slogan is ‘transforming the tube’ – we could get Livingstone under the Trade Descriptions Act. He’s ‘renewing’ the tube, not transforming it. We need to look at trams that will carry twice as many people as bendy buses and are environmentally friendly. I’m talking about extending east-west routes, an extension of the current tram through Croydon to Wimbledon, and the possibility of new tram routes that are parallel to the existing Underground system. We can encourage flexible working, so those who don’t have to travel at peak times don’t.’

You’ve talked about remodelling the management of the tube on private lines such as the Docklands Light Railway. Is that something you’re still considering?
‘What we need to do is find a way out of the Metronet problem [Metronet, one of the tube-maintenance contractors that went bankrupt last August]. The fact is, Tubelines [another private tube company] has delivered what it was asked to do within budget and on time. I’d ask TfL to look at running part of the Underground along the same model as the Mayor runs the DLR.’

But the experience of Metronet has been disastrous. Surely having more private companies running the tube will not be popular? [Polls have shown Londoners oppose tube privatisation.]
[Getting heated again] ‘Says who? You sound like Ken Livingstone’s spokesperson. You are trotting out distortions and lies which Ken Livingstone pushes out. Tubelines is not a disaster, DLR is the most successful transit system we have. So repeat the question you just asked. Or shall we play the tape back and listen to what you’ve asked and see whether, yet again, you’ve been totally unreasonable. Can we stop the tape now and play back exactly what it was you asked me?’

[Starting to feel like I’m being stopped and searched] I’m happy to continue.
‘I’m not. Can you play the tape back and we can find out whether or not what you’ve asked has been reasonable.’

[I insist on carrying on the interview as time is running out. Paddick refuses. I desperately try to find my question on the tape, fail, become exasperated, and tell him this is ‘silly’, and we should just move on. We have reached an impasse. My interview slot has almost run out. I have time for one more question.] What will you do if you lose?
[Defiantly] ‘I’ll be a very busy man. Because on May 1, I will begin running London.’

Paddick walks out, leaving a chill behind him. His PR apologises for his prickliness: ‘We’ve had a bit of a day.’ Two days later, Paddick added his apologies to hers.