Boris or Ken: which of London's Leviathans should social enterprise choose?

On the eve of the election, Allison Ogden-Newton takes a look at what the leading candidates in the mayoral race can offer social enterprise

Boris Johnson or Ken Livingstone: which candidate can do more for social enterprise? Photograph: John Stillwell/PA Wire

Update: Posted 10th May from the London Communications Agency :

"The result finally came through at just after midnight with the figures showing a victory by just 3% for Boris over Ken after second preference votes. Green candidate Jenny Jones won third place from Lib Dem Brian Paddick whilst independent Siobhan Benita took a respectable fifth place. Turnout came in at 37.9%, five percent more than the local election results.- I don't know how many of those 37.9% were social entrepreneurs but my guess is more than you would expect.

Today, we go to the polls to decide who should lead us locally. Times are tough, the issues have never affected the electorate as they do now. We have rising unemployment, local authority cuts, reduced services, changes in disability allowances, increased transport costs and yet the pundits are saying turnout will be low. Will that be the case in London, where two of the biggest personalities in UK politics slug it out one more time? Or will the Boris versus Ken show inspire Londoners to hit the polling stations and get their views heard?

In any event, I have been trying to work out what our very own Romulus and Remus think about social enterprise in a campaign so overshadowed by personality that the issues have struggled to get a look in. Social enterprise matters to me, and it matters to London's large and growing ethical business community, so where is it reflected in the candidates' campaigns? Social Enterprise London (SEL) published a manifesto which Boris signed up to saying he "is extremely supportive of the aspirations behind your manifesto and believes that you will find many of your key asks reflected in the 'Growing the London economy' chapter of his manifesto."

On closer inspection, we think this means that Boris is going with our idea of a social enterprise square mile as part of 2012 Legacy, and also the work we do enabling public sector workers to set up as independent service providers.

Ken's campaign has been based on support for the co-operative side of the social enterprise world. Ken attended the launch of the co-operative manifesto and much of his campaign trail language about mutualism and community benefit comes straight from that tradition. When Ken was mayor, he came to SEL conferences and has also committed his support in the past to the role of social enterprises in the delivery of the games, though the London Development Agency, when it still existed, always struggled under both mayors to know where to put social enterprise, so was inclined not to put it anywhere at all, unless you count communications.
Since becoming mayor, Boris has been much more unequivocal in his support for social enterprise but similarly struggled to find the right connection in City Hall to result in material benefit for the community.

So we have Boris, who recently said, "Social enterprise helps people reach their full potential by providing training and employment opportunities," and then Ken, who has said, "I want to make sure London is a success and I have no doubt that increasing the number of businesses that trade with a social purpose will help this vision."

As both of them have had a go at the job over the last 12 years, when social enterprise has made great strides, could either mayor have done more? What exactly can either one of them do for social enterprises in London now? Will they be able to or inclined to restore business support for the largest social enterprise community in the UK? Will they have infrastructure of their own to provide a platform to promote our social enterprise community both at home and abroad? Or will they hope that, in the event of electoral success, somehow this eclectic, multi-cultural, ethical business engine will continue to create opportunity for the poorest Londoners without their assistance? Let's hope not, especially if they want our votes today.

How are you going to vote and why? Share your views in the comments section below.

Allison Ogden-Newton is chief executive of Social Enterprise London.

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Making a believer out of Boris...

London Mayor, Boris Johnson started to follow me on Twitter yesterday. I was able to welcome him and say how pleased I am when later on in the evening I bumped into him at the London Voluntary Service Council's 100th anniversary celebration at the Mansion House. It was a super evening with a great many familiar faces, including Drew Stevenson who was Chair when I was on LVSC’s board, John O’Brien (CEO at London Councils), Peter Lewis (CEO at LVSC), my old friend Stephen Bubb, CEO at acevo and of course Boris.

I always enjoy Boris’s speeches. As you travel with him to the destination of the point he wants to make, it often feels like a ramble, but it always turns out to be the route with views. He told us how incensed he was by the story during the snowy winter of the chap who was told not to clear snow from the path in front of his house in case anyone slipped on it, in which case he would be liable. Our mayor lamented a culture where people are put off taking responsibility. I thought of the heroic initiative taken by social entrepreneurs like those running the Parent Promoted Foundation, which was hinted at in Michael Gove’s interview with the BBC this morning, who are really willing to do something about my local, shambolic school.

Picking up Boris’s theme and that of schools I am very aware that we are entering the 'school trip' season. I hate school trips. I do not understand how schools that do not feel able to examine children for head lice feel confident in taking them abroad. Nor do I accept the ridiculous expense of these trips. To put it into perspective the state pays roughly £3000 per head for each child to attend a primary school per annum and yet parents at my school are asked to stump up a whopping £550 for each child to go to the Dordogne where they won’t speak French, eat French food or study French history. Instead they will bounce on French trampolines and jump out of French canoes.

In my day it was a day trip to Kew Gardens or memorably Southampton Docks to look at the cargo ships. I am particularly anti as my eldest Joe, an otherwise fit and healthy boy with manageable asthma has been hospitalised twice in his life, both times upon return from school trips. The last time I remember standing in a hospital ward watching Joe, oxygen mask on his face, fighting for every breath whilst I talked on my mobile to the Head teacher who explained that they had not been able to take him to a doctor in France, when he failed to respond to his medication, because she didn’t have sufficient staff. This is not in loco parentis but it is consistent with a society where teachers don’t feel they can put sun cream on kids on a sunny day, and need a signed parental permission slip to lead a class to the post box in front of the school to post a letter!

The number of parents struggling to make ends meet is rising in our neck of the woods, as the recession continues to bite and yet the cost of these mad trips is rising. The pressure on parents not to stigmatise their children by failing to come up with the goods is immense and yet seems of no consideration. As these jamborees occur during term time, children not on the trips have to go to school, by themselves. I think all such ventures in primary schools should be limited to day trips and while we are at it teachers should be able to put on sun cream, and every school should have a 'nit nurse' to stem the rising plague. Then and only then I might trust them to get as far as Southampton docks but would only want to sign up if the cost was affordable for everyone, and I mean everyone.

Tonight is the big night. We have our AGM and hustings. The line up includes our minister, Angela Smith and her Conservative and Liberal Democrat counterparts Nick Hurd and Jenny Willott. We have over 150 social enterprise leaders coming and chocolate and condoms to pass out. Thanks to Divine and Global Ethics for sponsoring the event and illustrating the fabulously diverse world of social enterprise. I hope to see you there, but if you can't make it you can follow the whole thing on Twitter under #VoteSocEnt10.

You don't always grit what you want...

...so said Boris Johnson at the Lord Mayor's Dinner for London Government tonight. As our keynote speaker the Mayor (not to be confused with our host, the Lord Mayor) did not disappoint. He commended the 300 or so of us who had made it there, a testimony, he said to London's local authorities keeping roads open, and sharing their limited grit supplies with one another.

He went on to bemoan political name calling, the national shortage of grit and the nay sayers to his bike scheme.   All to the hilarity of the diners. Even Nicky Gavron, former Deputy Mayor broke the occassional smile. Nicky told me later that she was really interested in social enterprise and wanted us to begin an ongoing discussion on how to promote enviromentalism in particular. Reflecting on the speeches with Derek Myers, CEO at Kensington and Chelsea, James Cleverly at the GLA, John O'Brien at London Councils and Robert Gordon Clark, pundit extrodinaire and MD of the London Communications Agency, we all agreed it was a good address and impossible to follow as Merrick Cockell, Leader of K&C and Chair of London Councils, had to. Nonetheless Merrick's task was carried out with aplomb. To be honest I enjoy listening to people talking passionately and proudly about putting London first.

I thanked Boris, who seemed surprised that I enjoyed his address which he said he finished as he ate his meal, and my delightful dinner companions, William Hunt, a heraldic expert who has had at least four careers as far as I could tell,  Nigel Challis from KPMG who was chuffed to hear that they are already working with SEL and Peter Thackway from GLE who I hope to work with this year. Such is the disparity between men and women at this dinner that I was flanked by six men!

Me in my frock

All in all, worth the effort, which incidentally is so much greater than men have to make. Hours of hair, frock and bra stress (who knew there was such a thing as a bra stretcher/truss, that pulls the straps down to enable the wearing of a backless dress!?). I particularly enjoyed the furious post dinner speculation about the election. Too close to call according to most that I spoke too, even Robert Gordon Clark who knows more about London and the people who make it tick than anyone I know, said he had never looked at an election harder to call.

2010 is going to be tough but interesting. We will be awash with politics and I hope a raw demand for enviromental and social solutions that oustrip the rather hesitant toe-dipping we have seen so far. Certainly if the number of people who wanted to talk in greater depth with me about social enterprise at tonight's event is anything to go by, 2010 is going to be a New Year for new solutions.

I hope you had a good New Year. I certainly did, enjoyed a wonderful dinner at my oldest and dearest friend Clare's neighbour's home in Cambridge where 22 people sat down to a fabulous meal, great conversation and the most intensely organised review of the decade I have participated in to date. The collective view was hard to consolidate as the experience of an academic, psychiatrist or lawyer differ significantly, but I was impressed with the effort in not only putting a great meal in front of so many, but also the emphasis on the expression of views, entertainment and the ancient art of conversation. Thanks to Tina and Steve, our hosts, and here's to all of us who want to make 2010 the year things get better for the many and not just a few. I hope we all grit what we want!