A politician’s promise is not worth the paper it is written on!

The trouble with me is that I take people at face value; I believe that what they say is what they will do.  I really should know better and have realised that a politician’s promise is not worth the paper it is written on.

In April 2008, Boris Johnson, then the challenger to Ken Livingstone stood outside North Harrow Tube station.  He was electioneering in his bid to become Mayor of London and many people were lead to believe that he was going to be the man who would call a halt to Red Ken’s policy of closing ticket offices and cutting the staffing levels at dozens of Underground stations.

“I will be a Mayor for zone 6,” declared Boris as he went onto tell the world that the ticket offices at suburban stations were the hub of operations and were the places that people go to when they are lost, frightened or are just in need of information about the train service.
Boris, as my picture shows, even signed the passengers’ petition adding to over 4,000 names demanding that the ticket offices were saved from cutback and closure.

“Consider the threat has been lifted, annihilated, vapourised, liquidated, exterminated, removed, obliterated, as of now,” thundered Boris at Mayor’s Question Time in June 2008 when presented with the petition that now included his own name.  The ticket offices were saved.  A politician had delivered exactly what it said on the tin and now we could all go home in the knowledge that the battle had been won.

Boris isn’t the first and he certainly won’t be the last politician to renege on an election pledge.

Now I declare an interest in all this because in addition to being a local councillor, I work at North Harrow each weekday morning and as the people who use my station know, I am very passionate about the role that the ticket office contributes to the efficient running of the station, as well as being immensely proud to be part of the team that have been voted the best station on the Tube network for customer service for the past two years.

That aside, I would be neglecting my duty as a servant of the people if I did not highlight the hypocrisy and the way that the mayor has let down those who put their trust in him.  Much has been written in recent times about the general public’s disillusionment with politicians and broken election promises are a major cause of this disaffection.

So I leave you with this thought.  Ken Livingstone, now a challenger to Boris Johnson’s mayoralty was spotted yesterday outside Rayners Lane Tube station.   With a hefty dose of irony he was not only condemning the incumbent mayor for breaking his election pledge but stating how he could stop the ticket office cuts and maintain a staff presence at the outer London Tube stations.

We have all been warned, a politician’s promise is not worth the paper it is written on.