Caroline Pidgeon’s PPB

Thanks to crowd-funding from supporters, London Liberal Democrats have for the first time been able to put together a party political broadcast for the London mayoral election. That goes out today (Thursday), though party members who are well plugged into social media were able to get a sneak preview yesterday. The film rightly focuses on the LibDem candidate, Caroline Pidgeon, and her policies (unlike the weird Green Party video of children, which never even shows you their candidate) and features a good ethnic and age mix of other people, representative of multicultural London. Caroline presents herself as an ordinary Londoner and is seen in everyday situations, such as buying groceries in a street market and playing with children in a nursery. But the point that is subtly put over is that whereas Caroline shares the concerns of ordinary Londoners, on such issues as the lack of affordable housing, expensive public transport coupled with worsening traffic congestion, and the high cost of childcare, she is actually extraordinary, as the only mayoral candidate of any party or group who has been at City Hall for the past eight years, holding Mayor Boris Johnson to account. Moreover, she was a hard-working London borough councillor before that. She comes over in the PPB as knowledgable, responsible and caring and the film itself is vey professional, without being slick. All in all, an excellent initiative. Let’s hope millions of Londoners watch it and respond to Caroline’s distinctive messages!