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 was very much the thrust of Ken Livingstone’s onslaught on Boris last Monday when he cited his poor attendance record in the House of Commons as evidence that he would be ‘seriously damaging for the capital’. Livingstone feigned outrage that Boris hadn’t bothered to vote for free travel for OAPs in London — or paid sufficient attention to the debate about Crossrail. He claimed it would be beyond a ‘joke’ to ‘put someone in charge of London’ who has ‘no experience of managing anything practical at all’ — apparently forgetting that Boris successfully ran Britain’s leading political weekly for over five years. (This is more than can be said for ‘King Newt’, who has never achieved anything outside politics. The faintly hysterical tone of this attack — like Polly Toynbee’s — suggests that Boris is perceived as a serious threat.)

It used to be said of general elections that opposition parties don’t win them,

governments lose them — and the same is true of this contest. Unless Boris makes a colossal mistake, Livingstone looks set for a fall. ‘The one piece of advice I’d give him,’ says Nicholas Boles, ‘is that he can say whatever he likes about any city outside the M25, but for God’s sake don’t say anything bad about London.’

Toby Young is an associate editor of

The Spectator. He will be covering

Boris’s campaign for The Spectator and

posting a video diary on our website

www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse