By: James Ford

James Ford is a former adviser to Mayor of London Boris Johnson, specialising in transport, environment and technology policy. He subsequently advised several blue-chip companies in the capital including London City Airport, the Ministry of Sound and the London Chamber of Commerce & Industry. He has appeared on LBC and writes regularly for Conservative Home.

All 36 Articles

Notting Hill Carnival 2025 is make or break for Sadiq Khan

August 21, 2025

Mayor Sadiq Khan has staked his reputation – and your cash – on this year’s Carnival going off without a hitch, writes James Ford.
When it comes to Sadiq Khan, we all agree with Donald Trump – right?

August 7, 2025

President Trump insulting Sadiq Khan comes as no surprise. That no one rushed to defend him is much more revealing, argues James Ford We should be in the midst of a lively public discourse about Sadiq Khan’s character, intellect and performance. Ordinarily, if the leader of the free world claimed that the mayor of the [...]
Labour’s plan to gerrymander London’s mayoral election will backfire

July 24, 2025

Giving the vote to teenagers may be getting the headlines, but Labour are also planning to rig London’s mayoral elections by restoring supplementary voting. It’s a plan based on dangerous assumptions, warms James Ford Labour is clearly panicking. There is a very real fear that, come 2028, the combination of a deeply unpopular Labour government [...]
Here’s how failing TfL can restore confidence in our graffiti-riddled Tube

July 10, 2025

Sky-high pay and bonuses, PR gaffes, and a failure to tackle graffiti and fare dodging suggest that TfL is losing touch with its customers, writes James Ford Last week was bad news week for Transport for London (TfL). Poor old Andy Lord, the beleaguered transport commissioner, started the week by explicitly denying that a lengthy [...]
Driverless taxis will make black cabs extinct – and that’s no bad thing

June 25, 2025

The imminent advent of ‘robo taxis’ may well be the final nail in the coffin of the London cab trade, suggests James Ford By all accounts, a London cabbie’s lot is not a happy one. You may get to drive around the capital in one of the great transport icons (the black cab is up [...]
How worried should Ed Miliband be about the CBI’s net zero U-turn?

June 12, 2025

Is the CBI’s about-face on the cost of net zero a case of shameless opportunism or an overdue conversion to common sense, asks James Ford We are arguably living in an age of screeching political U-turns. The government’s abrupt volte-face over withdrawing the Winter Fuel Allowance is probably the most egregious example. Others would include [...]
Can banning ‘bare beating’ force people to wear headphones on the tube?

May 29, 2025

‘Headphone dodgers’ who listen to music on the tube with the sound up are easy to hate but ‘bare beating’ is a problem that is harder to solve than you think, argues James Ford Public transport is often seen as an inherently good thing. Done well, transport policy can be a silver bullet that solves [...]
London can’t afford to let rich Nimbys block live music in Brockwell Park

May 21, 2025

Rich Nimbys are strangling the capital’s culture by blocking concerts in Brockwell Park, and the poorest Londoners will suffer the most, writes James Ford Do you remember when London was fun? Not just mildly fun, but properly and riotously so. A heaving metropolis where sweaty clubbers, ebullient party goers and merry music lovers packed themselves [...]
Sadiq Khan’s green belt U-turn is an admission of failure on housing

May 15, 2025

Sadiq Khan is spinning his plan to build on London’s green belt as a “radical change of approach”, but it’s nothing of the sort. It will have a very limited impact on housing starts during this mayoral term and may only add to the political heat around house building, says James Ford Margaret Thatcher famously [...]
Sadiq Khan is squandering the success of the Elizabeth Line

May 1, 2025

Despite the popularity and success of the Elizabeth Line, other major transport projects in the capital are in limbo, writes James Ford Everybody loves the Elizabeth Line, right? There are the sleek, open-plan trains, the breathtaking, well-designed stations and, perhaps best of all, there are the smooth and swift journey times that have created new [...]

Ministers must ‘trade more’ in face of Iran war

London Marathon could have 100,000 runners in 2027

Here’s the most beautiful Wetherspoons pub in London

By: James Ford

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