BORIS JOHNSON COMMENTS ARE CONDESCENDING TO WOMEN - PADDICK

1.39.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 21st Nov 2007

Liberal Democrat Candidate for London Mayor, Brian Paddick

Responding to Boris Johnson's speech on housing today, in which he compared single women to Bridget Jones, Liberal Democrat Candidate for London Mayor, Brian Paddick said: "Boris Johnson's comments about women are condescending and out of date.

"The majority of women in London are smart, independent and focused; nothing like the chaotic chain-smoking spinster that his Bridget Jones label suggests.

"Boris, true to form, tries to be funny and ends up being offensive. To say London should not be 'getting hung up on affordable housing' shows just how out of touch he is with real people."

Notes

In a speech to the National House Building Council today, Boris Johnson is quoted as saying: "Over a quarter of London's first time buyers are now single women, up from only 15 per cent in the 1980s. Bridget Jones wants a place of her own."