- guardian.co.uk,
- Wednesday September 19 2007 12:21 BST
One of the Liberal Democrats shortlisted to be the party's candidate in the 2008 London mayoral race has accused the party of treating ethnic minority candidates as "defective".
Fiyaz Mughal, a deputy president of the Liberal Democrats, claimed the party was failing to address diversity problems, which he said "run through its veins".
"We need to have a strategic plan to tackle the culture where a black minority candidate will be seen as defective or not bringing forth the values of the party," he told Guardian Unlimited.
Mr Mughal is one of three candidates standing for selection as Lib Dem mayoral candidate, alongside Brian Paddick, former deputy policy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, and Chamali Fernando, a barrister.
Speaking ahead of a hustings at the Lib Dem conference in Brighton this lunchtime, Mr Mughal said: "The party has systematically never raised the issue of diversity because they believe that by putting up two black minority ethnic candidates they are dealing with it. But the party has issues on diversity running centrally through its veins."
Mr Mughal, who was a deputy president of the party last year, warned that the Lib Dems were haemorrhaging support from voters in black and ethnic minority communities as a result.
He added: "If somebody raises these issues you will find people fidgeting in their seats. The bottom line is they want to push this thing away and make it go away. But it is not going to go away."
Mr Mughal also claimed that the Lib Dem machinery was pulling out the stops to ensure that Mr Paddick, the only white candidate in the race, was selected by London's 7,500 Liberal Democrats.
Mr Paddick is seen as the best Lib Dem hope to stand against Ken Livingstone in the 2008 mayoral race because of his high media profile.
Mr Paddick first became known for piloting a more liberal approach to policing soft drug use in Lambeth in the early part of the decade and before cannabis was reclassified. "They are going for him," said Mr Mughal. "Behind the scene a lot of work is going on."
A Lib Dem source denied claims that Mr Paddick was receiving extra support from the party in his bid to be the London mayoral candidate.
The source said: "I only wish they gave him more resources. He has already gained a lot of grassroots support."
Today's hustings in Brighton will be the first of two before members eligible to vote receive ballot papers through the post in mid-October. The results will be announced in November.
A party spokesman insisted the contest was being conducted "evenhandedly".
He said: "There are a lot of safeguards to ensure it is even-handed. If we receive a query about one candidate, we make a phone call to the other two. A party official is overseeing the entire election and procedures involved."
The candidates
Chamali Fernando, 28, is a party activist and barrister from Finchley and daughter of Sumal Creasey Fernando, a solicitor advocate, who made political history by becoming the first Sri Lankan to contest a parliamentary seat, Leicester West (SDP), in 1983.
She decided to stand for London mayor to "give something back" to the city. Ms Fernando, a Theravada Buddhist, said: "This is my party's opportunity to support me and make history to create the news by electing the first female Asian mayoral candidate. On any platform I will look and sound different."
Website: www.chamali4london.com
Fiyaz Mughal is the chief executive of Enfield Citizens Advice Bureau and a councillor at Haringey borough council. He is deputy president of the party and is also director of an interfaith and conflict resolution organisation, called Faith Matters.
The 36-year-old Muslim father of two has also set up two micro-financing not-for-profit schemes in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Mr Mughal's family left Kenya and moved to London when he was just 10.
Website: www.fiyazmughal.org.uk
Brian Paddick, 49, is a former deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan police. Now a visiting fellow of Ashridge Business School, Mr Paddick is the best known of the three candidates. He first made national news in 2002 when a former lover claimed the openly gay officer had smoked cannabis.
Mr Paddick, who was later cleared of the most serious claims, was at the time leading an experiment in Lambeth which encouraged officers to issue a warning to those caught with cannabis for personal use, instead of arresting them.
He recently decided to retire from the police after he claimed he was frozen out for telling an inquiry into the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell tube station that senior aides to Met commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, had known within hours of the shooting that an innocent man had been gunned down.
Website: brianpaddick4london.net
