Thames Valley: First public hustings

Well. Last night's hustings was a most interesting affair. I could write about it at length - but here is my 'match summary':

Six candidates are listed on the BBC website at present: Patience Tayo Awe (Independent), John Howson (Liberal Democrat), Khan Juna (Independent), Anthony Stansfeld (Conservative), Tim Starkey (Labour) and Martin Young (Independent). All but Mr Young were present. The UKIP declared candidate, Barry Cooper was also not present. 38 members of the public and press listened to what they had to say.

The five candidates on the stage displayed varying levels of understanding of and passion for the PCC role. Unsurprisingly, Khan Juna and Anthony Stansfeld displayed inside knowledge of the current police authority role (of which, at the time of writing I believe, they are still both members) although they appeared to differ on the degree of influence over police performance that Anthony Stansfeld had had in recent months. (I suspect this issue will run a while yet with further information being sought to bottom out just what aspects of police performance have improved, what aspects haven't and who can really claim the credit... my money is on hard working police officers and staff)

John Howson said it was a 'really big job'. Khan Juna talked about his ability to work with chief police officers. Anthony Stansfeld said he was not a career politician. Tim Starkey highlighted his experience at working closely with the police and victims of crime. Patience Tayo Awe outlined her role as a trustee of Reading Voluntary Action. I could go on, except I do not see it as my job to describe their credentials. But here is a handy table: which is completely unscientific, impressionistic only and probably biased... please don't sue me!

	Knowledge of strategic police governance	Empathy with & experience of policing and crime at sharp end	Passion for the job	Willingness to listen & be informed by debate	Ability to make audience laugh
Howson	+	+++	++	+++	+
Juna	+++	+++	+++	+++	++
Stansfeld	+++	+	++	+	+
Starkey	++	+++	+++	+++	+++
Tayo Awe	+	+++	+++	+	+++

I am in the process of editing my recording of the meeting - not least the reaction of Anthony Stansfeld to my question...