It is safe to say that last night’s mayoral hustings produced as much heat as light. This was most obviously the case when Andreas Michli, an independent candidate, forced proceedings to be halted for 20 minutes by repeatedly shouting out the names of teenage knife crime victims, preventing Sadiq Khan from speaking. Mr Michli eventually agreed to leave the venue.
Still, this was an all too rare opportunity for the two main rivals, Labour’s Khan and the Conservative candidate Susan Hall, to go head to head. The pair regularly clashed on a wide variety of issues, with Hall opening up a new flank when she revealed her opposition to the Mayor’s policy of extending free school meals to all primary students, instead suggesting it ought to be means-tested.
