Brian Paddick: Line of Fire: Published Mayoral Candidates

One of the most unremarked aspects of the 2008 Mayoral elections is that the three main candidates are all published, as well as Left List candidate Lindsey German, who wrote (among others)The Balkans: Nationalism and Imperialism and Socialists and Class .

Ken Livingstone wrote If Voting Changed Anything They'd Abolish It, which I read in 2002.

Apart from the appalling title, it was a reasonable book with great detail on the Greater London Council.

Boris Johnson has written Have I Got Views For You, Lend Me Your Ears (a collection of columns and mystical interviews ,Johnson's Column and his novel Seventy-Two Virgins.

Brian Paddick recently published his autobiography Line Of Fire, which I read last week.

Detailed and honest, Line Of Fire is revealing about Sir Ian Blair , Paddick's use of Urban75 to engage in dialogue as "Brian the Commander", his jousts with the Daily Mail and the death of Jean Charles de Menezes.

The book also gives a history of the Met from the days of the SPG to now.

Writing Line Of Fire with Paddick was Kris Hollington, who also teamed up with Drugs Squad officer Harry Keeble.

Line Of Fire is £8.99 on Amazon.co.uk and shows how suited Paddick is to people management and taking unpopular yet needed decisions.

Two qualities that any mayor must have.

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