Although this is properly about conduct, not background, James Elliott writes:
On Friday came the least surprising political announcement at the end of a summer full of surprises: That Zac Goldsmith, MP for Richmond Park and North Kingston, would be the Tories’ mayoral candidate in 2016.
Goldsmith won 70% of the 9,227 votes cast in the primary, more than the other three candidates (Syed Kamall, Stephen Greenhalgh and Andrew Boff) combined.
This has rightly angered the TUC, who have blasted the Tories, asking, “If online balloting is good enough the Conservative Party, why can’t working people use it?” in reference to the Tories’ continued opposition to the use of online ballots for strikes.
By choosing Goldsmith, the Eton-educated son of a billionaire hedge fund owner, as their candidate against Labour’s Sadiq Khan, a son of an immigrant bus driver raised in a council house, the Tories have already allowed Labour to paint this as a choice between ‘their London and ours’.
Goldsmith certainly has a few skeletons in his closet.
In 2009 The Observer ran the story that Goldsmith, while a Tory PPC, was accused of avoiding the payment of nearly £6m in tax by registering as a non-domiciled resident.
Goldsmith then admitted his use of “non-dom” status, while downplaying its benefits.
In a city where a quarter of people are living in poverty, and where average rents hit £1,500 a year in June, perhaps Goldsmith ought to be asked why he was cutting his personal tax bill by using ‘non-dom’ status rather than paying his fair share, and why that qualifies him to become Mayor of London?
Yet Labour are fearful of Goldsmith’s ability to reach out to Lib Dem and Green voters because of his opposition to a third runway at Heathrow, especially after former Green mayoral candidate Baroness Jenny Jones appeared to endorse a second preference for Goldsmith earlier this year.
Jones said, in May, “if Zac Goldsmith is standing, it’s a different scenario. Many of us very much like that he comes across as very green and committed and passionate.”
Given 8% of Londoners voted for a Green mayor in 2012, their transfers could prove decisive.
A recent poll by YouGov had Labour just one point ahead of the Tories in London in voting intention for the next General Election, but Khan remains the odds-on favourite of the bookies for the Mayoralty.
If Labour can force Goldsmith to openly defend or even apologise for his pre-2010 tax arrangements, maybe those Green and Lib Dem voters might shrink away from the idea of backing a candidate as transparently elite as the multi-millionaire Etonian they are presented with.
On Friday came the least surprising political announcement at the end of a summer full of surprises: That Zac Goldsmith, MP for Richmond Park and North Kingston, would be the Tories’ mayoral candidate in 2016.
Goldsmith won 70% of the 9,227 votes cast in the primary, more than the other three candidates (Syed Kamall, Stephen Greenhalgh and Andrew Boff) combined.
This has rightly angered the TUC, who have blasted the Tories, asking, “If online balloting is good enough the Conservative Party, why can’t working people use it?” in reference to the Tories’ continued opposition to the use of online ballots for strikes.
By choosing Goldsmith, the Eton-educated son of a billionaire hedge fund owner, as their candidate against Labour’s Sadiq Khan, a son of an immigrant bus driver raised in a council house, the Tories have already allowed Labour to paint this as a choice between ‘their London and ours’.
Goldsmith certainly has a few skeletons in his closet.
In 2009 The Observer ran the story that Goldsmith, while a Tory PPC, was accused of avoiding the payment of nearly £6m in tax by registering as a non-domiciled resident.
Goldsmith then admitted his use of “non-dom” status, while downplaying its benefits.
In a city where a quarter of people are living in poverty, and where average rents hit £1,500 a year in June, perhaps Goldsmith ought to be asked why he was cutting his personal tax bill by using ‘non-dom’ status rather than paying his fair share, and why that qualifies him to become Mayor of London?
Yet Labour are fearful of Goldsmith’s ability to reach out to Lib Dem and Green voters because of his opposition to a third runway at Heathrow, especially after former Green mayoral candidate Baroness Jenny Jones appeared to endorse a second preference for Goldsmith earlier this year.
Jones said, in May, “if Zac Goldsmith is standing, it’s a different scenario. Many of us very much like that he comes across as very green and committed and passionate.”
Given 8% of Londoners voted for a Green mayor in 2012, their transfers could prove decisive.
A recent poll by YouGov had Labour just one point ahead of the Tories in London in voting intention for the next General Election, but Khan remains the odds-on favourite of the bookies for the Mayoralty.
If Labour can force Goldsmith to openly defend or even apologise for his pre-2010 tax arrangements, maybe those Green and Lib Dem voters might shrink away from the idea of backing a candidate as transparently elite as the multi-millionaire Etonian they are presented with.
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