Interview: Lawrence Webb UKIP’s London Mayoral candidate

On Monday Big Smoke spoke to the UK Independence Party London Mayoral candidate, Lawrence Webb. Somehow we managed to find the noisiest rooftop in London to put our questions to him, but the views were very nice so hopefully you’ll forgive the background noise.

We were speaking on top of Europe House, a Westminster building with quite extraordinary security measures and appears to be almost entirely unused. Perhaps no one can get in.

One new thing we decided to do this time was to ask some questions our readers had suggested to us via twitter. I think Lawrence gave some very honest, straight forward answers.

Having come across a number of UKIP candidates over the years there were a few of things that surprised me about Lawrence. First of all, no blazer. More importantly he was far more measured than some of the rather excitable candidates I’d met previously. Looking back, although these weren’t carefully laid traps, we gave Lawrence the opportunity to denounce immigration, deny climate change, and really have a go over Europe and he turned those opportunities down.

Either he has iron self-discipline or he represents a more grown up version of the party than some of us are used to. That can only be a good thing, but apologies to anyone who was hoping for a selection of unwise outbursts, there were none to be seen.

Bite sized Headlines:

• No to Heathrow expansion or Boris Island, but yes to increased airport expansion.
• UKIP doesn’t want your second preference votes for Mayor.
• Persuade councils to adopt a “twenty minutes or under is free” parking charges policy.
• No aid to countries with a space program or nuclear weapons.
• If elected Mayor UKIP will “consider” the question of London declaring independence.