You might not have heard of Siobhan
Benita, but that could soon change. On May 3, London will see its most hotly
contested mayoral election yet, and Siobhan is taking on Boris and Ken.
Michelle Davies finds out if she can do it >>
To say Siobhan Benita has an abundance of
self-belief is an understatement. Frankly, she needs it. The 40-year-old
mum-of-two has just quit a successful career as a senior civil servant to
compete in a cut-throat election, which could cost her tens of thousands of
pounds of her own money.
The election is not ordinary one – it’s for
London’s next mayor. And with what looks like a two-horse race between incumbent
Tory mayor Boris Johnson and his old Labour sparring partner Ken Livingstone,
Siobhan faces a battle to convince voters to back her as the independent
candidate.
“I’ve been asked a lot why I’m doing this.
People have gone, ‘You’re considering do what?’” she admits. “But there’s a
read dissatisfaction with party politics; the polls show people really don’t
like either of the main parties at the moment, and Ken and Boris represent
those parties. By having an independent mayor we can rise above party politics
and get things done.”
Siobhan doesn’t match the stereotype of a
politician. Ebullient and warm, she answers every question directly and, as far
as I can tell, honestly. We’re in the front room of her south London home.
Behind us is a hand-carved rocking horse her father made when her daughters,
Grace, 12 and Emilie, 11, were small. It underpins how important family is to
Siobhan, and why she’s standing under the slogan, ‘A mum for London’. “The
reaction to that slogan has been interesting,” she says. “It really divides
women. Some will never have children and get fed up if they think it’s all
about childcare and buggies. To them, they have different challenges. [But]
what I’m saying is I’m about people, not party politics.”
Her daughter and husband Vincent, 42, an IT
worker with a City bank, are wholeheartedly supportive. “If they at any moment
questioned it, I wouldn’t have done it,” she says. “My husband was fantastic.
He was like, ‘It’s so clear you’re not fulfilling what you want to do where you
currently are, so go for it.”
Vincent, to whom she’s been married 15
years, sensed Siobhan was no longer prepared to be invisible or impartial, as
her job required. “As a good civil servant you must be prepared to hand over
your advice and let ministers make the decision,” she explains. “That was
becoming increasingly difficult for me to do.” In principle anyone can become
mayor – anyone, that is, who can raise a deposit of $16,000 (which is forfeited
if the candidate doesn’t get 5 per cent of first-choice votes), plus $ 16,000
to appear in the election booklet, as well as signatures of support from 330
London voters. The funding and leg work are far easier to achieve for
candidates linked to a political party, so only a few independents have ever
made it onto the baller paper. Siobhan is currently raising the funds – with
the help of donors and supporters – to deliver to the Greater London Authority
by the deadline of March 28.
So what compels a working mother to give up
her job and run for mayor? Siobhan was increasingly frustrated with Ken and
Boris’s tendencies towards “huge, macho promises” which, she says, they often
can’t deliver on. “They’re in the party political trap of making ever more
grand, overblown announcements,” she says. “I think the mayor should fight for
London issues for Londoners. Over the years, I’ve found that I am good at
finding solutions and getting things done by uniting people with opposing
views. I feel like that’s a female trait 0 men like the fight; I like the
solution.”
One morning last October, she realised
she’d have to resign from her job that day in order to run. “The day I
resigned, I felt liberated,” she says. “It had been hard for me not to say what
I actually thought about the way things were run. I don’t want my daughter to
grow up thinking women have less of a voice in shaping things.”
While Siobhan will campaign on the main
issues affecting the capital – housing, public safety, transport – she’s also
concentrating on the youth population, large numbers of which feel disenfranchised
by soaring unemployment and the backlash from last summer’s riots. “I don’t
like the way we focus on the negative – Broken Britain, lost generation. People
will believe it and live down to it.”
Campaign trails are littered with bloodied
noses and bruised egos from rivals taking personal potshots at each other. Is
she ready for that? “I hope I’ve got a think enough skin. I won’t know how I'll
deal with it until it happens,” she says. “Equally, it’s a double-edged sword.
The minute Ken and Boris take interest in me to that extent, I know I’m doing
well.”
Of course, it’s not just her rivals she
must fear – certain quarters of the media are notoriously hard on politicians.
“The worry when you do something like this is how it will affect your family,”
she says. “I know at some point somebody will say something horrible about me
and I worry about my daughters reading it and what they will think. That’s
probably my only concern.”
Siobhan has already had a taste of
unwelcome publicity, however. Last year, a national newspaper published a
spurious article linking her to her then boss, Sir Gus O’Donnell, head of the
civil service. Both denied any impropriety and issued a statement saying so.
“You can either let something stupid like that stop you, or you can dismiss it
in the way it deserves to be dismissed,” she says.
Now she’s running for public office, she
accepts what she says might be twisted. “If someone publishes something that’s
not true, are you better off ignoring it or responding? I went to university
and did most of the things people did at university but I never did drugs.
Never. And I’m thinking, are people going to believe me?”
Aside from the implication of an affair,
the most galling aspect of the article about her and Sir Gus was that it
reduced her to one word: ‘glamorous’. Yet being judged on appearance alone is
something all female politicians have to shoulder. “I did wonder at the
beginning – am I not only going to be criticised and challenged for my
policies, but am I also going to get, ‘What’s she wearing? God she looks
terrible,’” says Siobhan. “It is something I think about. If I say I’m capable
of doing this huge job, the least I can do is put on a decent dress in the
morning.”
She’s also likely to be judged on how she
juggles work with family life. “Somebody once said to me that you’ve got to
decide at some point in your career what your priorities are. I agree with that
to a certain extent,” she says. “I was very clear when my children were born
they were my number-one priority. But does that mean I always have to be home
at 5 o’clock? No, it doesn’t.”
If Siobhan wins on May 3, she’ll become
Mayor of London in the year the capital hosts both the Olympic Games and the
Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations. But she’s ready for the challenge. “I
know the scale of these events; I’ve been involved in the planning of others.
This isn’t daunting for me – I’ve been there, behind the scenes, for years.”
Will voters be convinced, though? The fact
that she’s worked in the backrooms of Whitehall and not at the coalface of
politics means it’s harder to prove her credibility. In the official election
period, between March 28 and May 3, candidates are allowed to spend up to $
672,000 on campaigning. Before March 28, the sky’s the limit, and there’s no
way she can compete with Ken and Boris’s budgets. Yet Siobhan’s adamant she can
still beat them.
“I really wouldn’t do this if I didn’t
think O had the chance,” she states, refusing to say what she’ll do if she
loses. “I’m so focused on giving this my all. I’m in it to win.”
SIOBHAN’S MAYOR MASTER PLAN:
1. Free travel… for some
Jobseekers travelling to interviews won’t
pay to use public transport. Parents with babies and toddlers will ride buses
for free.
2. Outfoxing the foxes
Siobhan intends to commission a study into
the issue of controlling urban foxes. From there she plans to seek a ‘sensible’
solution.
3. Playing it safe
Siobhan is making public safety a key
issue. She wants better street lighting and well-lit stations and bus stops.
4. Working the land
Se plans to explore whether derelict sites
can be used to build affordable housing.
5. Banking on a freebie
One ambitious plan is to set up a monthly
‘Free London’ day, where residents can travel for free while restaurants,
attractions and shops offer discounts. Her plan is to persuade the City banks
to sponsor each day.
