James Cleverly is running to be Mayor of London

Casdon

AI summary of the water canon debacle, initiated by Johnson with no authorisation, of items which were not legal in UK.

Purchase and Controversy

Cost:
Total costs rose to around £322,000 for purchasing, shipping, and refitting the 25-year-old vehicles (which included low-emission zone compliance, repainting, and installing radios).

The Ban:
Then-Home Secretary Theresa May refused to license the vehicles for use on the British mainland in 2015. She cited severe injury risks like spinal fractures and public trust concerns.

Unused Status:
The Met Police never deployed the vehicles. They sat in storage because they lacked legal authorization to operate.

Disposal and Sale

Scrap Sale:
In November 2018, successor Mayor Sadiq Khan sold the three water cannons for just £11,025 total to a Nottinghamshire scrap firm to be dismantled and exported.

The Loss:
The failed project resulted in a taxpayer loss of over £300,000.

Precisely my point!!

Most are law abiding though…

Cossy

Mmm, 🤔, the same Boris who wasted so much money on water cannons and the garden bridge? The same Boris who allowed so much money to be syphoned off during Covid on contracts to his “mates”?

The same Boris who complained he had no money as PM yet magicked up a mansion for his third expanding family?

No thank you.

Book him as your after dinner speaker if you have such admiration for him, I don’t wish to see him pocketing even 1p more of public money.

They all waste money Cossy, doesn’t matter who’s in.

As a Londoner, I don't think we needed some fancy garden bridge, and the money wasted on it is shocking.

The one that got away, in my opinion, was the airport out on the Thames, designed to offer double the capacity of Heathrow, whose third runway hasn't materialised. When you go to somewhere like Frankfurt and see the size of the airport and the handling of tens of millions of passengers, it makes you realise how far behind we are and how the project would have resulted in massive financial investment in the area. Boris might have been onto something there.

Is this the same B Johnson of the Garden Bridge project? It was never built and still cost taypayers £43 million.

I think the point is that buying them without prior approval was a maverick action - and maverick actions were ultimately the cause of Johnson’s downfall - he never believed that the law applied to him.

How can anyone support B Johnson? You must have very short memories. He tried to illegally prorogue Parliament, had parties at No 10 during lockdown...

Personally, I think Theresa May was being a bit precious banning water cannons on grounds of severe injury. What would she prefer? Rubber bullets and sting grenades which cause permanent injuries? Water cannons, used correctly, can actually allow the police to control large crowds from a safer, non-lethal distance.

Yes, Grantanow, that would be a good use of them.

AI summary of the water canon debacle, initiated by Johnson with no authorisation, of items which were not legal in UK.

Purchase and Controversy

Cost:
Total costs rose to around £322,000 for purchasing, shipping, and refitting the 25-year-old vehicles (which included low-emission zone compliance, repainting, and installing radios).

The Ban:
Then-Home Secretary Theresa May refused to license the vehicles for use on the British mainland in 2015. She cited severe injury risks like spinal fractures and public trust concerns.

Unused Status:
The Met Police never deployed the vehicles. They sat in storage because they lacked legal authorization to operate.

Disposal and Sale

Scrap Sale:
In November 2018, successor Mayor Sadiq Khan sold the three water cannons for just £11,025 total to a Nottinghamshire scrap firm to be dismantled and exported.

The Loss:
The failed project resulted in a taxpayer loss of over £300,000.

Yes, they could have been used on the far right yobs attacking asylum hotels and trying to set them on fire.

sundowngirl

MT62

I liked Boris. Watched his speech at Trafalgar.
I don’t think him arrogant like Khan

👏👏👏👏👏

I believe Boris Johnson made the right call ordering those water cannons to protect our streets and support the police. France, Germany, and many other European nations routinely use water cannons for riot control—there is no logical reason why the UK should be any different.
The real financial waste came from Sadiq Khan. Instead of keeping them or finding a proper use, Khan sold them off for scrap metal for a absolute pittance, landing taxpayers with a massive financial loss of over £300,000.

Absolutely sundowngirl 👏👏👏 There have been several occasions in the last few years when those water cannons would have been very useful!

MT62

I liked Boris. Watched his speech at Trafalgar.
I don’t think him arrogant like Khan

👏👏👏👏👏

I believe Boris Johnson made the right call ordering those water cannons to protect our streets and support the police. France, Germany, and many other European nations routinely use water cannons for riot control—there is no logical reason why the UK should be any different.
The real financial waste came from Sadiq Khan. Instead of keeping them or finding a proper use, Khan sold them off for scrap metal for a absolute pittance, landing taxpayers with a massive financial loss of over £300,000.

We’re talking two years ahead though Graphite, not now. I’ll be eating my hat if by 2028 Reform are ahead of the Tories in the polls, and if Labour haven’t made significant further progress on tackling the migrant problems. I still don’t get why he’s declared his hand now.

Current polling on the Westminster seats where Reform want to put their vigilantes:

pollingreport.uk/seats/E14001121

Braintree: Cleverly leads by just 1%

Colchester: Labour lead by 9.7%

Chelmsford: Lib Dems lead by 12.9%

Cleverly won Braintree in 2019 with a massive 34,112 votes. That was reduced to 17,414 in 2024 by Labour on 13,744 and Reform on 11,346.

Now he’s just 1% ahead of Reform.

It’s all about RAF Wethersfield.

Mmm, 🤔, the same Boris who wasted so much money on water cannons and the garden bridge? The same Boris who allowed so much money to be syphoned off during Covid on contracts to his “mates”?

The same Boris who complained he had no money as PM yet magicked up a mansion for his third expanding family?

No thank you.

Book him as your after dinner speaker if you have such admiration for him, I don’t wish to see him pocketing even 1p more of public money.

I liked Boris. Watched his speech at Trafalgar.
I don’t think him arrogant like Khan

I dont think I would rule out some form of return of Johnson at some stage.

Oreo

Maybe Boris will stand again he was popular with Londoners at the time🤭

Good grief 😱😱🤣🤣🤣🤣

I don’t believe he’s done it because he thinks his seat is in danger of being lost to Reform, because Reform are in a downward spiral, whilst the Tories are gaining momentum. Why now, whilst things are going well, if that was the case?

I believe Laila Cunningham and James Cleverly are both great candidates. However sadly I think this will split the vote and Khan will get in again with his 7 deputy mayors

Whitewavemark2

10 years is quite a long time though. Khan May step aside now.

Hopefully 🙏

Brilliant Graphite.

I suspect Cleverly knows his Braintree seat is in danger as it contains RAF Wethersfield. A few days ago, he and Braverman had a very public argument about that.

The flag and national anthem-obsessed, dishonest Reform councillors now in control at Essex County Council have announced a vigilante force to patrol his constituency town amongst others.

It’s performative nonsense but Reform could whip up enough hatred between now and the next GE for him to lose so he’s trying to line up another job - on top of the second one he currently has paying him an extra £58,000 a year on top of his MP salary.

Never forget this is the man who thinks a bit of Rohypnol in a woman’s drink is fine, voted for Brexit, supported Liz Truss, is against renter’s rights and voted to cut ESA for working people who are disabled. With Reform going after tenants and those needing benefits, he could be their secret weapon because former Tory Laila Cunningham isn’t going to cut it for them.

Never forget it was Tory policy, courtesy of Osborne and Johnson when Mayor, which almost bankrupted TfL during the pandemic.

Whitewavemark2

10 years is quite a long time though. Khan May step aside now.

I agree. Sometimes, every successful leader should realise that it's in everyone's interest to step down and pass on the baton. I think it's time for a change.

I'm a Londoner, but I left 5 years ago so can't comment on what things are like now. I thought at the time Kahn seemed a bit arrogant, but I was pleased he kept the free 60+ oyster card! He's obviously popular. DH will be cathedral concert singing for a couple of weeks in London next month, so I'll get the chance to see how things are. DD1 and family moved out of East London for a safer life and have never looked back.

Cleverly must have his reasons, we wait and see.