A flying start for Boris

Boris is back: back Boris! Here at 22 Old Queen Street, the blond bombshell’s Spectator support team are punching the air. It wasn’t that we let the nay-sayers get to us, or that we ever, for a moment, fell for all that guff about him not being serious – it’s just that now we have the evidence to buttress our beliefs. His speech this morning was a corker. He was committed — spoke of “when” not “if” he becomes mayor – and ticked all the right boxes: the need to make first homes cheaper, to investigate the congestion charge, to champion civility, tackle yobbery and replace the murderous bendy-bus with a “route-master for the 21st century”.

For an ‘elitist toff’ (©Polly Toynbee) he was admirably committed to multicultural London, and had excellent sound-bite about looking after Zone 6 just as well as Zone 1. There was a touch of zero tolerance, a pinch of the green agenda, a celebration of ethnic diversity and a new, serious haircut – perfect.