2012 London Elections

Boris Johnson at the LJF Breakfast Forum

LJF played a high profile and decisive role in bringing to the fore the concerns of the Jewish community during the 2012 London Mayoral and Assembly elections.

In preparation for the elections and in line with LJF’s mission to act as an advocate for Jewish London, the “London Jewish Manifesto” was developed. With the help of expert communal agencies and our steering group, significant effort was put into detailing many of the key public policy challenges the community faces, particularly during the increased drive towards localism and devolved powers.

Within the last two weeks of the election campaign, LJF hosted incumbent and victorious Mayor Boris Johnson for a breakfast Forum at the London Jewish Cultural Centre. The Mayor gave commitments on housing, transport and the future policing of hate crime in the capital.

In order to engage with the Mayoral and Assembly candidates from the political parties, LJF hosted a breakfast forum with Liberal Democrat candidate Brian Paddick and in the last week of April, Ken Livingstone delivered a speech at a meeting in the old Hampstead Town Hall.

The meetings, all of which were open to the community, received extensive covering in the national as well as community and local media. These issues were even discussed on the Today Programme and Newsnight.

Ken Livingstone at the LJF Election Forum

LJF continues to press forward with its plans to bring about the changes the community needs in London. The London Jewish Manifesto, acting as a strategy for the next four years, serves as the basis on which LJF engages with the Mayor and Assembly Members. We will continue to work with our communal partners to deliver on our priority campaigns.

We will also begin our work deepening our connections with the London Boroughs, their leadership, Councillors and officers, beginning our preparations for more intensive engagement activity during the 2014 London Borough elections. As with the GLA, our broad goals are to be confident in our ability to contribute to the work of Local Authorities, lobbying for the change alongside other communal agencies where and when we need to.