Brian Coleman - Politics

Politics

Coleman has tended to take strong and often controversial lines on many topics including the development of Barnet Football Club, Hendon Football Club, Saracens and the London 2012 Olympic Bid. He is often accused of being against popular community sport. During the recent Copthall application Mr Coleman went on record as saying that his friend, Boris Johnson would never allow Saracens to build a new joint use community stadium. Both the Council and Boris Johnson passed the application despite Mr Coleman's objections.

Following the 7 July 2005 bombings in London, Coleman questioned on radio how safe it was for Londoners to travel by public transport. He is against the proposal for the northwest London light railway. In 2009 he said "It's not feasible, it won't happen. Ideas like this are thought up by men who probably still have a train set in the attic." In June 2006 he criticised the planned refurbishment of Potters Fields Park (between City Hall and Tower Bridge), saying that it should be replaced by a multi-storey car park He's expressed concerns that Rugby fans are too old to ride bikes.

In April 2004 Coleman was against Middlesex University's plans to expand its Trent Park campus because it was "a crap university" that could "only attract foreign" students. It was announced in June 2008 that he was to receive an honorary doctorate from Middlesex University for his "outstanding commitment to the community".

In August 2006 Coleman criticised people legally protesting against a provision of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 as "sad, mad and bad". On the restrictions on the right to demonstrate, he stated "It's not a matter of free speech – it's a matter of a proper way of running a world city".

In August 2007, residents of New Barnet campaigning on the environmental and transport details connected with the redevelopment of the East Barnet School site (Metropolitan Open Land adjoining the Metropolitan Green Belt), were criticised by Coleman as "idiots" and "the usual Nimby brigade". The previous month Coleman was the only objector to the erection of a wind turbine at Frith Manor Primary School (opposite Partingdale Lane), as he believed it was "out of character in the green belt".

In 2002, Coleman announced his intention to seek the Conservative Party nomination to be candidate for Mayor of London but he was rejected at a very early stage. During the 2005 Conservative Party Leadership Election, Coleman publicly supported David Davis.

In April 2007, Coleman caused a small media storm when he claimed that the former Prime Minister Edward Heath was homosexual and that it was "common knowledge" in the Conservative party that he had been told to keep it secret for the sake of his career. Writing on the website of the New Statesman on the issue of outing, he said: "The late Ted Heath managed to obtain the highest office of state after he was supposedly advised to cease his cottaging activities in the 1950s when he became a privy councillor."

An article by Coleman entitled "Politics and alcohol" for the New Statesman in August 2007 made allegations that Sir Ian Blair the Metropolitan Police Commissioner was "somewhat the worse for wear at a number of official functions" and "needed assistance from his protection officers to manage the stairs". Mayor Ken Livingstone was reported to have responded that "The London Assembly should stop giving a platform to a person who in addition to putting out all sorts of smears and gossip is also a dyed-in-the-wool Thatcherite who in no way represents the views of most Londoners".

In late August 2008, an article by Coleman in the Barnet Press caused another minor media storm. He wrote that the British athletes were "tainted with the blood of Tibetans", and that London mayor Boris Johnson was "forced to go to Beijing to collect the Olympic flag". Coleman's comments received cross-party criticism and the Mayor distanced himself from the remarks made by his fellow Conservative.