Over the weekend I blogged:
In the London Mayor selection contest, Lewisham councillor Duwayne Brooks has just publicly thrown his hat in the ring. More information on his Facebook page.
The other declared candidate so far is Lembit Opik, who also has his own Facebook page. The number of fans for that latter page has been growing slowly but now there is a direct competitor to judge it against. So far, Lembit is ahead though Duwayne’s page has only very recently appeared.
Matters have moved on quickly since then, with Lembit’s Mayor page continuing to grow slowly (now up to 216 fans) but Duwayne has already overtaken him with 243 fans.
Online indicators like this need to be taken with several pinches of salt, especially as most of them in the last party leadership contest more heavily favoured Nick Clegg than the actual result. However, the fact that Lembit’s many years of high profile in the party have not turned into a large early lead for him shows how his profile is a double-edged sword.
Note: a shortlist has yet to be published. Lembit and Duwayne are the only two people to have publicly announced their desire to stand so far.
