Boris versus Osborne
James Forsyth 11:41am
One of the staples of the Westminster summer party season is speculation about future
leadership contests and so I rather suspect that Ben Brogan’s piece on the coming George Osborne Boris Johnson
leadership contest will be much referenced in the coming weeks. Any speculation about a future leadership contest is, obviously, absurdly premature. If a week is a long time in politics, six years
is almost a geological era. But the prospect of Obsorne versus Johnson is, as Tim Montgomerie puts it, so
‘delicious’ that Westminster Village people will take any excuse to talk about it.
What makes the contest so appetising is that Osborne and Johnson’s strengths are so different. Osborne plans everything out, Johnson flies by the seat of his pants.
But I do think that any 'Boris for PM' strategy is reliant on him first winning re-election in London. He needs two terms to show the country that he can do a serious job.
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John A
June 22nd, 2011 11:53am Report this commentHe's shown himself in the Boris Bike that he is as capable as any in pissing our money against the wall on vanity projects.
Perry
June 22nd, 2011 11:58am Report this commentNo - he doesn't need waste a moment longer in London, - we need him working on a far larger canvas, - and time won't stand still!
The dim-witted H2B can wreck untold damage on what remains of this land. The sooner he's gone, the ...
Dan Grover
June 22nd, 2011 11:59am Report this commentI agree that he needs two terms, and I also think George wouldn't be a great candidate. I think he's very talented, but he's the perfect Chancellor, really - he almost seems happy to play the bad cop to Cameron's good cop, sort of like at school when the Headmaster constantly had a huge grin and the Deputy Head was his curmudgeonly detention-bat (or maybe that was just my school...)
Osborne seems to enjoy driving things from the backseat, and a lot of the cheeky stuff he says he wouldn't be able to get away with as PM.
Sam Davidson
June 22nd, 2011 12:05pm Report this commentMayor or no, the party starts here. Boris for PM!
Pot Head
June 22nd, 2011 12:06pm Report this comment"Any speculation about a future leadership contest is, obviously, absurdly premature"
But, you're going to do it anyway :)
Dave B
June 22nd, 2011 12:13pm Report this commentThat wouldn't be a contest. Boris would win the vote in a landslide.
Dan Grover
June 22nd, 2011 12:35pm Report this commentPS The Boris Bikes are fantastic! Spending public money isn't really a problem, it's wasting it that's the real problem. Boris Bikes aren't a waste at all, I don't think, even if they are by no means revenue-neutral. I know a lot of people who save a lot of money themselves because they don't take the tube or buses as much as before. This also frees up space for those that choose to, or have to, use the tube and buses still.
Chris lancashire
June 22nd, 2011 12:41pm Report this commentBoris the Buffoon needs to stick to messing about in London, jokers are not needed for national government. Osborne wins hands down.
AlanL
June 22nd, 2011 12:46pm Report this commentThis is excellent. I am a big believer that competition drives excellence, and to have Boris & George competing will improve them both - Boris will start to think a little more, and George will become more human-friendly.
This will be a good outcome for them both.
Robert Eve
June 22nd, 2011 2:05pm Report this commentI'd much rather Dan Hannan or Douglas Carswell led the Conservatives. Or started a real Conservative party.
John Steed
June 22nd, 2011 2:40pm Report this commentIf you took the best of Osborne and Boris you would have a good to excellent candidate: amiable, hard-headed, charismatic, intelligent, etc.
But both of them individually have some pretty major flaws, and if you took the worst of both of them you would have a walking disaster.
The Laughing Cavalier
June 22nd, 2011 3:32pm Report this commentBoris hides his considerable intellect behind the facade of a bumbling silly ass. He has done so for so long now that this has become his public persona. He can not now rid himself of it; he has played the fool for too long and for that reason alone will never be Prime Minister
disenfranchised
June 22nd, 2011 4:21pm Report this commentjokers are exactly what are needed for national government. let's face it (though few do), we have a joke of a political system, a joke of an economy, a joke of a society, a joke of a judiciary, a joke of a health service, and so on, and so on, and so on......
Hexhamgeezer
June 22nd, 2011 4:38pm Report this commentWhich one of them will give us a say on Europe? Will either? If none it's an irrelevance.
Axstane
June 22nd, 2011 5:38pm Report this commentAs you said "absurdly premature". Apart from that it will never happen. Boris is not a candidate to lead the party.
Move on, please.
HFC
June 22nd, 2011 7:41pm Report this commentBetfair prices on next Conservative leader:
G Osborne 11/4; Rory Stewart 6/1; Jeremy Hunt 8/1; B Johnson 17/2; M Gove 12/1; W Hague 14/1; L Fox 15/1; D Hannan 19/1; D Davis 29/1. Enough said.
Marcher Baron
June 22nd, 2011 7:47pm Report this commentUnless one or other of them commits to a referendum on the EU and some real conservative policies, neither would get my vote.
FvH
June 23rd, 2011 7:20am Report this commentThe predictions are now that this fight will happen immediately after the next election(which will be inconclusive again)
Campaign managers are already appointed
Gentlemen start your engines!
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