London Assembly member Andrew Boff is an interesting sort of Conservative: a libertarian, a smoker, gay, a resident of Hackney - Tories don't do well in my patch - and a passionate localist, which brings him into conflict with what he would deride as the local Labour-stronghold council's "top-down" regeneration policies. He held a Hackney Council seat for a few years and before that was leader of the rather different borough of Hillingdon. More recently Andrew ran against Boris Johnson to be Tory candidate for London mayor. He didn't win, of course, but he seems to have survived defeat quite well.
We met in Ridley Road market in Dalston, where Boff lives (just up the road from me) and publishes a magazine about local issues. Dalston is a part of Hackney that's being rapidly transformed by a new housing and retail development that will accompany the extension of the East London Line. There's been some vigorous opposition. We discussed all these things and more, not least the London mayor's attitude to London's markets.
