On the road with Boris

Boris defines the ‘new Conservatism’ by being a real human being

Toby Young

21 July 2007

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Toby Young, our campaign correspondent, says that the candidate’s prospects
in the London mayoral election hinge on his appeal as a great communicator,
and on the hysteria of the Left, which completely misunderstands him

This may be wishful thinking, but even if a vote along purely party lines wouldn’t be sufficient to put Boris over the top, he’s more than capable of appealing to non-Conservative voters. His classical, 19th-century liberalism may attract Lib Dems — and the fact that he’s so unlike a typical candidate for public office could win over people who’ve become disillusioned with the political process, or who’ve never shown much interest in it in the first place.

‘I think he needs to make an effort to find what I’ll call “Boris Backers”, which are thousands of people who have not been involved in politics for ten or 20 years who are now going to get involved in politics because of him,’ says Luntz. ‘He needs to create this sense of energy and excitement and debate.’

Of course, it’s possible that Boris’s freewheeling, seat-of-the-pants style could turn off as many people as it turns on. Polly Toynbee launched a vicious attack on him in Tuesday’s Guardian, calling him, among other things, a ‘jester, toff, self-absorbed sociopath and serial liar’. The thing that appears to have prompted this outburst is what Toynbee perceives as his lack of seriousness — and it is this that may prove to be Boris’s greatest electoral handicap. Even today, some 450 years after the English Civil War, the nation can still be divided into Roundheads and Cavaliers — and Boris, with his great mop of blond hair, has an uncanny ability to bring the puritans out in hives. In their eyes, this politically incorrect clown — someone who urges the public to vote Tory on the grounds that it will cause your wife to grow bigger breasts and increase your chances of owning a BMW M3 — has no place in public life.