I must admit that, at first glance, I felt that the two Eton and Oxford-educated Tories were quite a long way from their own roots. But a bridge was built by Ray Lewis, a black former prison governor (and another former Edmonton resident) who set up Eastside Young Leaders' Academy with the aim of keeping black youngsters out of prison. He called for change in London following a spate of murders and was proud to introduce the man he called "my mate Dave."

Sadly for me, the main reason why Edmonton was chosen for the Tory launch was that four of the 11 murders of young people in London this year took place in the area. Ken Livingstone has funded an extra 10,000 police and community support officers and overall levels of crime in the capital have gone down on his watch.

In fact, there's a very strong correlation between the rise in police numbers and the fall in crime. But it doesn't feel like that in parts of London and crime looks set to be a very potent issue for the Tories in the May 1 Mayoral election.