Revisionists!

Published: 8 April, 2010

• IT’S true politicians are not the public’s favourite at the moment but, for most of those who are or were involved, our ultimate aim is to have “made a difference”.
So it’s always galling when someone else tries to take credit for those few achievements one has managed.
“Lib Dems stopped clamping”, claims their latest Hampstead leaflet. Hmmm. As a Conservative member of the team it was I who had to cajole a renegotiation of contracts with the clampers and rebalance departmental budgets to satisfy Camden’s finance director before presenting the proposal to council. But both the Conservatives and the Lib Dems had it in their 2006 manifestos, so I suppose in election times that claim is fair game (even if my successor Conservative Chris Knight and I have had four years of battling the “less realistic” Lib Dems to balance the rights of drivers and non-drivers).
But it is their claim to be responsible for Hampstead Heath station’s redesignation as Zone 2 that really gets my goat.
I don’t recall any Lib Dems being with us when we went through the archives; when we approached our (Conservative) GLA Member for help; when we debated with Transport for London; or when we presented our case to London’s then Mayor Ken Livingstone.
And I particularly do not remember any Lib Dems among us during the fortnight that fellow Conservatives joined me at 6.30 every morning outside the station collecting the 2,500 signatures we needed for our petition to get the zoning changed.
Maybe those Hampstead residents who saw us  have better memories than the Lib Dem revisionists? Or should we not let the truth get in the way of a good political story?
MIKE GREENE
former Executive Member for Environment.