I nearly fell off my chair just now when I received a worthwhile and almost completely accurate mass-forwarded e-mail from a Boris-stopper, who had received it as a mass e-mail forward from a friend.

I thought the very definition of a mass e-mail forward was that it was full of utter rubbish and could be instantly debunked by a visit to Snopes, so I’m delighted to rewrite my dictionary in the light of finding that the below is circulating.

There was one small error in it - encouraging the sole use of your first preference vote for Ken, and not using your second preference, which would be a wasted opportunity, so I have replaced this e-mail’s original tactical voting advice with ours. I’ve also sneaked our URL into it for anyone wanting more info, but obviously I don’t mind if you delete that line out before sending it on!

I would encourage anyone keen to stop Boris to join in this mass e-mail forwarding revolution by passing this uniquely worthwhile forwarded e-mail on to anyone they know in London, without delay!

Hi there,

I’m forwarding this message as I feel really strongly about it.

If you don’t vote on Thursday, Boris Johnson is very likely to become mayor of London. Imagine it now: an upper class old Etonian, who never before had any interest in London, taking over our multicultural city. A man who wrote racially offensive articles of ‘picanninnies with watermelon smiles’, denied climate change and rejected Kyoto, and who didn’t bother even turning up to vote on CrossRail.

But it’s not just that he’s disinterested in London: he’s also incompetent. He just owned up massive blunder on his bus manifesto: the original price he gave of £8m has now been admitted to be £100m. That’s an extra £2 every week on every bus pass. He’s absolutely no experience of working in any local government. All he’s ever done in the past is manage 40 people on a small magazine. He’s just not fit for the job.

Imagine the joy of the right wing press, of the Mail and the Telegraph, and of course the Evening Standard, if he wins it. It’d be sickening. Our progressive city would be smothered by a Thatcherite. I’d be embarrassed to be a Londoner.

Everyone agrees that the election is on a knife edge and literally every vote will matter. The good news is you can vote tactically to keep him out. It’s easy. Just pick the option that suits you best:

1. If you think Ken Livingstone is the best choice for Mayor:
- Put Ken Livingstone as your first choice.
- Put Brian Paddick as your second choice.

2. If you think someone other than Ken is the best choice for Mayor:
- Put your favourite candidate as your first choice.
- Put Ken Livingstone as your second choice.

3. If you’d rather avoid Ken being Mayor too, if at all possible, or
4. if you don’t really care who’s Mayor, as long as it’s not Boris:
- Put Brian Paddick as your first choice.
- Put Ken Livingstone as your second choice.

(Full explanation of why these are the best voting options is at http://tinyurl.com/6hg9xw )

Please do the right thing and help us keep Boris out of London. Please make sure you vote on Thursday. And, if you agree with this email as I did, please forward this to all your friends in London.

Don’t wake up on Friday under Boris Johnson.

For more information about why we need to stop Boris, visit www.stopboris.org

PS. We can definitely keep blundering Boris out on May 1st, if everyone makes sure they vote.

PPS. Please forward this on to as many people as possible.

This entry was posted on Monday 28 April 2008 at 14.07 by Mr. Stop Boris and is filed under Campaign, Stop Boris, Voting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS2 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.