Boris v Dave, this time it’s serious

Make no mistake about it, Boris Johnson’s rhetorical assault on the coalition’s housing benefit plan is a direct challenge to David Cameron’s authority. The two best-known Conservatives in the country are now involved in a battle that only one of them can win.
 
Boris told BBC London this morning:

“What we will not see and we will not accept any kind of Kosovo-style social cleansing of London. “On my watch, you are not going to see thousands of families evicted from the place where they have been living and have put down roots.”

What is infuriating the Tory machine is not only Boris’s criticisms, but the language that he is used—which makes Labour’s talk of social cleansing sound positively moderate.
 
The mayor has clearly decided that he needs to be seen to be standing up for Londoners on this issue. I also suspect that he might have decided that there will have to be concessions to appease the Lib Dems and that he wants to be in a position to take credit for them.
 
But Cameron is not in a position to issue concessions. If he starts back-tracking every time there is opposition to a cut, the whole spending review will rapidly unravel.
 
None of the previous Boris-Cameron clashes have been as serious as this one. Several of them, mainly those over London’s spending settlement, have been choreographed and others—such as over 50p tax and Europe—have been Boris tweaking Cameron’s tail. But this one really is serious. If the coalition now does cede ground on the housing benefit issue, Cameron’s authority and ability to push through other difficult cuts will be severely weakened. But if Cameron stands firm, Boris will have had his bluff called. He will be denied what his campaign team had hoped would be one of the planks of his re-election, the ability to boast during his re-election campaign that he can make central government deliver for London. 

UPDATE: Boris has blinked. He is out with a statement saying he has been misinterpreted and that he was trying to say the policy won’t lead to social cleansing. That’s certainly not how Downing Street understood his remarks. But there will be relief that Boris is now back on the reservation.