CONSERVATIVES staged their manifesto launch at the Old Hampstead Town Hall this week, a choice seen as symbolic in their pursuit of gaining an extra seat in Belsize ward.

Andrew Boff, the leader of the Conservatives at the London Assembly, was brought in to kick off the campaign at the building in Haverstock Hill on Wednesday.

He said Tories had shown how they could operate in regional government by their performance at City Hall, claiming his group had convinced Mayor Boris Johnson to build more family-sized homes and brought him around to the idea that the tube system could operate with driverless trains.

He said that he wanted “homes with gardens” for families and none should be forced to live above the third floor in tower blocks.

“The thing is with our party we have a debate, and we do this extraor­dinary thing of listening to people,” he said. 

The local election manifesto – at 26 pages it is the longest document of all the local branches – includes a promise to give a new 10-minute grace period before parking tickets are issued and a move to reinstate cut street cleaning services.

The party, which has not held sole power in Camden for more than five decades, say they will push for council tax cuts over the next four years. To bring more money in, one of their suggestions is to broker more sponsorship deals for Camden’s landmark buildings and services.

Listening to Mr Boff, the candidates drank wine and ate hand-made cupcakes with tops decorated with Conservative logos.

Perhaps not aware that Gospel Oak Tory candidate Peter Horne is a tube driver in his day job, Mr Boff said: “It was our idea to have driverless trains on the tube. Every time the RMT has industrial action people like the idea of driverless trains even more. 

“Officials said they couldn’t do it, but after years banging away, it is what is going to happen. That’s the future.”

Notable missing faces, such as parliamentary candidate Simon Marcus and deputy leader Andrew Mennear, were said to be out campaigning.

Camden leader Councillor Claire-Louise Leyland said: “There aren’t easy answers. We are going to have to make difficult choices and  that can’t be done in a A or B kind of way. We need to be able to deal with complexity and talk and work together about these problems. There has got to be a stop to the bickering at the Town Hall. It’s why the public galleries are empty.”

She added that the council had brought in new technology that not all elderly residents understood with services changing on the mistaken basis that everybody knew how to use a smartphone or the internet.

The Conservatives want to wrest seats away from Lib Dems in the wards where they are sharing control: Belsize and Hampstead. 

They are also pushing for gains in Fortune Green – although they are realistic about the chances of unseating long-serving Lib Dem Flick Rea – and to some extent West Hampstead.

The minimum target is to become the largest opposition party in Camden again. New candidate Siobhan Baillie will stand in the ultra-safe seat of Frognal, replacing Councillor Laura Trott, the Downing Street adviser who has provided one of the smallest number of contributions from a councillor over the four year administration.

Group whip Councillor Gio Spinella told the room: “Four weeks ago, Claire-Louise Leyland wasn’t sitting behind a desk in Camden Town Hall, she was in a refugee camp on the border of Turkey and Syria helping children traumatised by a brutal civil war. 

“When the time comes, we are presenting on May 22, not just two different visions of how Camden should be run but two different versions of a leader. Camden must choose between professional politicians or someone who goes out to help the needy.”