Do you ever get the feeling that after listening to Labour politicians, either when in opposition or in government, you cant remember a damn thing they said. They always garble off a shopping list of things they have done or things are going to do, but somehow you never quite feel convinced. And no one thing seems to stick in the mind; it all seems to come across as so much political verbiage. Its different with the Tory MPs. They speak with the arrogance of those who believe they are born to rule. And with that old Etonian, Oxbridge confidence, laced with centuries of paternalistic certainty, they lay out their programme for the benefit of us peasants and toiling proletarians with precision and clarity.

Thatcher was a master in this respect. We know obviously that everything they are telling us is a lie, and that their only real interest is to preserve the dominance of their class, yet somehow their message can seem so reassuring, so clear and so much like good old common sense. You wonder why the top Labourites cant find their own assured orators, at least half a dozen of them to get across party policy. While thinking about these things, the one man on the left that kept coming to mind was Bob Crow. When he speaks I listen, and what he has to say sinks in. Thats probably because, unlike the majority of Labour politicians, he actually believes in what he says. Unlike the professional tier of Labourites, who continually change their policies to suit the latest opinion polls, Crow has the air of a man who has the conviction of his beliefs. If he tells you the latest round of public transport cuts are going to endanger public health and safety you tend to believe him.

He has been consistently hammering home this point for decades and he has never wavered in his commitment to a re-nationalised, fully funded public transport system. No equivocation, no back sliding, no cheap compromises. What he says he means and where possible he backs it up with industrial muscle. Just the sort of man we need to run for Mayor of London.If we could only convince Mr Crow to stand as a radical independent, I feel certain he would put together a no-nonsense set of policies that everyone could at least understand, if not agree with. I can just picture him talking to one of those slippery, supine BBC journalists, explaining with crystal clear logic about the need to build one million affordable houses over the next ten years.

That would be his election platform. No interminable political double talk, just a simple commitment to build enough affordable houses on brown field sites, enough to end once and for all the chronic housing shortage in the capital. Successive governments and Mayors have singularly failed in this respect and everybody knows it. Bob Crow would not mince his words. A million new affordable houses in the next ten years. That is my programme take it or leave it. Of course there are many more things that need to happen in London, but when you think of it, this one commitment tackles a whole host of other pressing problems. Firstly, it gets tens of thousands of unemployed people immediately back to work.

Secondly it would be a massive boost to both the London and the national economy. Thirdly, it would help tackle youth anti-social behaviour, much of it borne out of the despair and hopelessness of unemployment and homelessness. Fourthly, it would take a gigantic swipe at the landlords and financial speculators that have mercilessly exploited the housing shortage in London. Rents would be forced downwards and disused industrial and government land would be compulsorily purchased for house building rather than for speculative office and apartment blocks that nobody needs and nobody can afford. Finally, it would help to reinvigorate some of the more destitute and run-down parts of the capital without eating into much needed green open spaces.

Once Mr Crow had established his Mayoral credentials he could then expand his programme to include a commitment to keeping our schools and hospitals out of the avaricious clutches of the private sector. He might then suggest that every school be turned into an evening and weekend community centre hosting affordable evening classes, recreational and sporting activities, and generally acting as a social hub for the local community. He would probably call for a sustained expansion of public transport, including putting some serious finances into a dedicated system of cycle tracks unlike the bits of blue road paint that Boris Johnson is so proud of. Finally, unlike our light-touch regulators in the Labour Party and the no regulation merchants in the Tory Party, Bob Crow could employ the full force of the law and where necessary, some industrial muscle, to that socially useless bunch of crooks currently occupying the City Of London.

So there you have it. A five point programme to rescue London from the clutches of the Sheiks, the Oligarchs and the army of international money launderers and speculators, that have currently got a stranglehold on the capital; and to return London back to its citizens. Its a devastatingly simple programme, but one that seems to be beyond the imagination or capabilities of this generation of Labour politicians. Well- meaning academic types like Ed Milliband could be recruited by Bob Crow to act as research assistants in the back rooms of City Hall.