Legend has it that Boris Johnson began his political career in a car park in
Henley-on-Thames grappling with 40 blue Conservative balloons. As the
would-be Tory MP struggled to disentangle the strings, a helpful aide
stepped forward with a cigarette lighter to burn through the Gordian knot.
Balloons began exploding all around. “It sounded like the gunfight at the OK
Corral,” Boris later recorded of his campaign in the 2001 election.
In the confusion somebody tossed the remnants of smouldering string into the
back seat of a nearby car where they ignited a bundle of campaign leaflets.
They were blazing merrily by the time Boris reached the first stop on his
election tour.
Amazing though it may seem, Boris won the seat with a healthy majority. So if
there is anyone who could set the contest for the next London mayor on fire,
it’s Boris.
In recent days he’s been mulling over whether to unleash his unique
campaigning style upon the unsuspecting citizens of the capital. The
election will be held in May next year, but nominations to be the Tory
candidate must be in by midday tomorrow.
If Boris presents himself for duty, it would certainly solve a problem for
David Cameron. Several high-profile figures have declined the Tory leader’s
invitation to be candidates, a list that reportedly includes Lord Coe, Lord
Stevens, and Greg Dyke, who would have taken on the role in some sort of
jobshare with the Liberal Democrats.
Former Tory MP and businessman Steven Norris, twice beaten by Ken Livingstone,
has been keeping a low profile. Mike Read, a former Radio 1 disc jockey, has
also been linked with the post. His record in elections is not encouraging:
in 2004 he was the first contestant to be voted off ITV’s I’m a Celebrity .
. . Get Me Out of Here.
In theory, the Tories are throwing open their choice to all-comers in a
primary campaign with the successful candidate unveiled at the end of
September. In practice, Boris would be the hot favourite to take on “Red
Ken” in what would be a battle of the mavericks.
For weeks Boris has fuelled speculation that he will run, without actually
confirming he will. “Being mayor of London would be a fantastic job and
anyone who loves London would want to consider the possibility very
carefully,” he said recently. “I have been struck by the number of people
who have been urging me to run.”
On Friday his official website announced he was indeed going to stand, but
later that morning Boris denied that he’d made up his mind, saying: “I still
have a lot of people to consult.”
Many hope he takes the plunge. Yesterday Martin Bell, the former independent
MP and BBC reporter, said: “He is a good candidate as he has name
recognition – he may be one of only two politicians in the country who are
known by their first name. But I don’t see a middle way with Boris. He would
either be a very good mayor, or a catastrophic one.” WHILE Boris affects the
air of the bum-bling gentleman amateur, Livingstone exudes political cunning
along with his nasal whine. To become mayor in the first place, he had to
outsmart the new Labour political machine and stand as an independent.
Apart from a few years as a lab technician and a spell of teacher training,
Livingstone, now 62, has spent his entire adult life in politics. By the
time Boris was 12 years old (and goggling as the family au pair stripped off
during the hot summer of 1976), Ken had been a councillor in Lam-beth, south
London, for five years.
During his long march as socialist firebrand, Livingstone learnt to chop and
change with the best of them. When he ran the Greater London council in the
1980s his big idea was Fares Fair, a controversial scheme to cut bus and
Tube fares to a cheap flat rate. As mayor since 2000 he has introduced the
London congestion charge and presided over Tube fares that can cost £4 for
one stop.
Cunning he might be – but as mayor Livingstone has been just as prone as Boris
to opening his mouth first and extracting his foot later. In February 2005
he accused a reporter on London’s Evening Standard of being “a German war
criminal”. The reporter turned out to be Jewish. Livingstone also ran into
trouble when he accused the billionaire business brothers David and Simon
Reuben of endangering a development connected with the Olympics. The mayor
advised that they “go back to Iran and try their luck with the ayatol-lahs”.
The Reubens are not Iranian, but are of Iraqi-Jewish heritage from India.
The mayor has also described Fidel Cas-tro’s Cuban revolution as one of the
“high points of the 20th century” and has said Hugo Chavez, radical
socialist president of Venezuela, was “a beacon of democracy and social
progress in the Latin America”. Chavez recently forced the closure of a
tele-vision station in Caracas opposed to his policies.
Nor is Livingstone reticent about his approval of communist China. In May
during his weekly mayoral question time at City Hall, he decided to stick up
for one of the last century’s most notorious dictators, Mao Tse-tung. “One
thing that Chairman Mao did was to end the appalling foot binding of women,”
he announced. “That alone justifies the Mao Tse-tung era.” That is the sort
of nonsense on which Boris thrives. His talent for plain speaking became
apparent when, after Eton and Oxford, he attempted to train as a management
consultant. “Try as I might, I could not look at an overhead projection of a
growth-profit matrix and stay conscious,” he recalled. His neighbour had to
nudge him awake. “Listen,” said that colleague, “if you continue to take
this attitude I don’t think you are going to get very far.”
Boris did continue to take that attitude. He condemned that neighbour as “a
pompous squit” and then set about getting himself a job in journalism,
rising to become editor of The Spectator.
It was under Boris’s editorship that this house magazine of the intellectual
right became notorious as The Sextator when it was alleged he was having an
affair with his deputy Petronella Wyatt. Meanwhile, the magazine’s publisher
was having an affair with David Blunkett, then home secretary, and the
attractive receptionist had been canoodling with the columnist Rod Liddle.
Boris had decided that writing about politics was not enough. He wanted to
join in. “I felt a need to do something different,” he said. “I felt a need
to stop kicking over sand-castles and build a few of my own.” He fought
Clwyd South for the Conservatives, but Clwyd South fought back vigorously.
In 2001, though, he succeeded Michael Heseltine as MP for Henley, one of the
country’s safest Conservative seats.
Boris is an antipolitician whose style is neatly summed up by Liddle in this
week’s edition of The Spectator. “Like all politicians he is sometimes
required to talk anodyne or disingenuous rot, but unlike the remainder he
cannot keep a straight face while doing this.” WHO would win if the two
mavericks did go head to head? In the 2004 mayoral campaign, Livingstone won
36% of the vote against 28% for Norris. Since then the Tories have made
advances in London, so Boris would be in with a genuine chance.
Mariella Frostrup, the TV presenter, summed up his popular appeal. “The first
two mayoral elections were such dour affairs, I think Boris would be a far
more representative of one of the most exciting cities on earth,” she said.
“He would certainly put a smile on my face. He’s eccentric and speaks his
mind, and he doesn’t always necessarily say things to get the vote, which is
very refreshing.”
Luckily for Boris, London is one of the few areas of the country where he has
not insulted too many voters. He was famously sent to apologise to Liverpool
by Michael Howard, then leader of the Conservatives, after an editorial in
The Spectator accused the city of “wallowing” in its victim status over the
murder of Ken Bigley, who was taken hostage in Iraq and beheaded.
In April, Boris described Portsmouth as “full of drugs, obesity,
underachievement and Labour MPs”. The city was incensed. A picture of a
bandanna-wearing Johnson appeared on the front page of the local evening
newspaper under the headline: “You twit”.
Mike Hancock, the Liberal Democrat MP for Portsmouth South, demanded an
apology. “He should walk barefoot to Portsmouth and apologise and even that
won’t be enough,” huffed Hancock. “For him to talk about people with a
weight problem is completely ridiculous – if you imagine the supreme example
of manly fitness, Boris Johnson is not the name that comes to the fore.” In
fact, Boris says he is proud to be 15-stone plus; nor is he afraid of
calling a fatty a fatty, even though he is one. “I think we should worry
less about using these words,” he said. “You get in terrible trouble if you
say fatso.”
While Cameron nimbly dodges questions about any drugs he might have taken at
university, Boris admits he tried cocaine but found it disappointing. “I
remember it vividly,” he told a magazine interviewer. “It achieved no
pharmacological, psy-chotropic or any other effect on me whatsoever.”
Even more alarmingly candid was his response when asked in a magazine
interview by Piers Morgan whether he could imagine having sex with Cherie
Blair. “I could, yeah,” said Boris, before protesting: “No, don’t put that
in!”
Such openness may appeal against the numbing political correctness that
permeates Livingstone’s administration. But if Boris does run, he may want
to rethink slightly the slogan he once coined for the merits of his party at
the last general election. “Voting Tory,” he advised, “will cause your wife
to have bigger breasts and increase your chances of owning a BMW M3.” Mind
you, he was returned with an increased majority.
Additional reporting: Will Iredale and Alan Schofield
A job with £4.7 billion, 600 staff and control over police, firefighters
and development
If you thought the mayor of London was mainly a figurehead, think again. The
post controls a vast budget and wide-ranging executive powers to promote
economic and social development in the capital. The winner would:
Manage a budget of £4.7 billion to run the various bodies that make up the
Greater London Authority. Some of the money comes from council tax, some
from government grants. The mayor sets the annual budget for the
Metropolitan police, the London Fire Brigade, Transport for London and the
London Development Agency.
Appoint members to the board of Transport for London and the police and fire
authorities. The mayor also appoints the London Cultural Consortium, which
develops his cultural strategy ranging from sport, architectural heritage
and the performing arts. In total the mayor employs about 600 staff.
Shape the policies covering transport, planning, development, culture and a
range of environment issues.
Be able to veto significant planning applications made to local councils if
they are not in accordance with the GLA’s policies.
The mayor is also responsible for the management of Trafalgar Square and
Parliament Square.
Livingstone has used his power as mayor to establish the congestion charging
system under which drivers must pay a daily fee to use roads in certain
areas of the capital. Last year, the congestion charge raised £122m, part of
which was reinvested in the London transport network.
The post of mayor carries a salary of £137,579. Incumbents serve for a fixed
four-year term.
The work of the mayor is scrutinised by the London Assembly, a body of 25
people elected at the same time as the mayor.
It can investigate issues, question the mayor, and put forward proposals.
