Joking apart: why Boris is the man for the job
Boris Johnson has confounded his critics, says Matthew d’Ancona. The contest will go to the wire, but our man has proved himself to be both shrewd enough and serious enough to take charge
Much more important than such inventories, however, is the general trajectory which Boris proposes, the direction of travel. The binding theme of his candidacy is a yearning for a city that is less fraught with fear, that does not crackle with the threat of violence. Imagine Giuliani’s ‘zero tolerance’ of crime woven into Disraelian Toryism: Robocop with a sense of compassion.
I do not care how many statistics Mayor Livingstone brandishes to demonstrate that our city has become safer in his hands. There are plenty of other figures that prove just the opposite (not least the fact that there are now nearly twice as many robberies with violence a year in London than in the larger city of New York). But it boils down to intuition, the scent in the citizen’s nostrils. And one of the many reasons Boris has captured voters’ imagination is that he has engaged with this anxiety, and speaks to their overwhelming desire to reclaim their neighbourhoods, to feel secure once more. It is a tall order, no doubt about it. But it is absolutely the right priority for a new mayor.
You can tell that Ken knows his challenger is on to something: because the questions the Mayor has been asking Boris — who, exactly, would advise you? Do your sums really add up? — are the questions you ask someone whom you fear is close to victory. Ken has stolen ideas from his opponent like a greedy jackdaw, including Boris’s proposal for a new scheme to help businesses to donate to charity that he initially scorned as ‘a throwback to Charles Dickens’s 19th-century world’. In politics, it is often very sensible to nick your opponent’s best lines. But if you do so, you also forfeit the right to dismiss the same opponent as an amiable amateur. A buffoon is not worth plagiarising.
If Boris wins on 1 May, he will truly have run the political gauntlet. From the very start, the attacks on him were ferocious, not least because the stakes are national as well as local: the Prime Minister cannot afford to lose London as well as Edinburgh. To face the daily provocations of First Minister Salmond and Mayor Johnson would be intolerable for Brown. Already, Boris has promised to ‘stand up for London on every issue that matters, whether it falls under the mayoral remit or not’, to use ‘every strand of mayoral power to fight against Labour government over-regulation and over-taxation’. Imagine London as a Tory stronghold against the Gordon Empire, with Boris as our clean-shaven Asterix. And — unlike the PM — he would have an electoral mandate.
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Ray
April 24th, 2008 2:00pmGo, Boris, Go! And my advice to you once in office is to copy the winning formula of Ronald Reagan - that other famous larger-than-life politician with a gift for bonhomie - and surround yourself with a team of highly competent lieutenants. You set the policy themes and be the public face of London; let them get on with the nitty-gritty of actually getting the job done.
The Bellman
April 24th, 2008 2:15pm"Boris for PM" say I.
My bet is that he will be PM at some stage. How wonderful it would be to be lead by somebody sans spin.
I'll say it again, "Boris for PM" and again "Boris for PM".
And what I tell you three times is true.
Augustus
April 24th, 2008 4:57pmWho wants Red Ken back in power? Using London's money to fund communists and anarchists was a bleeding disgrace. you can conduct all the surveys you like, but people who want a change will vote for it.
Madasafish
April 24th, 2008 9:52pmIf Boris does become Mayor, I can see an awful lot of crazy nutter organisation suddenly running out of money.
David
April 25th, 2008 11:21amBellman.
Did you really say "lead" instead of "led"?
The Spectator is the last place I'd have expected to find such a howler.
paddy dooley
April 25th, 2008 12:38pmBoris will serve you and I, Red Ken has, and always will serve himself and his self esteem, which will never be satisfied as Ken has so many issues you could fill all the empty seats at
port vale fc next season with them....good luck blondie
Adrian
April 25th, 2008 8:26pmOn Tory conference call tonight - at the start "the Q & A will follow at the end", then no Q&A - because Boris cannot even handle questions from Tories.
jon livesey
April 25th, 2008 8:56pmWhat is true of London is also true of the UK. In a modern world, the UK deserves to see democracy work to produce governments appropriate for the UK that exists in the real world, not the imaginary UK that inhabits the pages of the Guardian, or the fantasies of teaching unions.
Political commentators in the UK these days thrash about offering this and that dodge and wheeze to improve things, but they miss the main point, which is that the debates, feuds and sensibilities of the seventies don't quite cut it in the new millennium, not because they are wrong, but because they are irrelevant.
Countries whose political classes conspire to criminalise discussion of the problems that really anger the voters are countries that cannot confront their most pressing issues, and so risk being overwhelmed by them.
Water
April 25th, 2008 11:24pmIt's more a case of compromise and competency... all three of them are just so bad. I’ve heard that all real Englishmen seem to be leaving the country. Well please come back because these three are unutterably ghastly.
Dwight Vandryver
April 26th, 2008 12:46amTaken from Not the Nine O'Clock News: Boris Johnson, on being asked by a reporter "Have you had sex with a man?", he replied "Not yet". Not only was this a very witty impromptu response, but also very astute since it offended nobody. One wonders how Ken Livingstone would have reacted to the question. Boris's ability to strike a favourable chord with the average guy has to be an asset in any mayoral candidate.
[Apologies in advance for any typos or grammatical errors.]
John Worrall
April 27th, 2008 9:10pmMarriage vows are the most solemn promises you ever make. A man who breaks these cannot be trusted to keep other promises.
Stefan
April 28th, 2008 5:17pmGreat article - and a great chance for Londoners to stand up to the tyranny of the politically correct left-wingers (aka Mr Livingstone's rainbow coalition). I know the British love a fair fight as well as the (seemingly) under-dog winning - so come on and have a go!