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Boris for Prime Minister? Bring it on…

August 4, 2012 12:19 pm

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Only in the month of August, in the UK, could a leading political figure that got stuck up a zip wire be an act of burnishing leadership credentials. Of course it helps that the figure was Boris Johnson, a politician seemingly inverse to the supposed rules of politics on our tiny isle. But burnish his governing élan it did; the media duly went into hysterics and summoned crypto-political analysis to ponder how this latest act was a direct threat to David Cameron. If this had occurred to any other senior politician in the UK, the likelihood of their reputation being enhanced is risible. But Boris escaped unharmed and, somewhat unbelievably, the commentariat have used this latest display of buffoonery to detail, in quite the most serious terms, how Boris Johnson could well be our next prime minister.

Truly, he defies political gravity.

One suspects that the recent feverous froth ‘zipwire-gate’ conjured up was down, in large part, to the fact that firstly, it’s August and our media are bored. For the next four weeks they have the added incentive that they can run stories, however tenuous, under the ‘silly season’ bracket and plausibly get away with. And secondly, our media, so used to the influence of dedicated rolling news channels, are not getting any attention as the Olympics is on.

But seriously he should be taken. LabourList’s Matt Zarb-Cousin argued reasonably that Boris is a politician the public are crying out for. In that he joins the ranks of columnists from the Daily Telegraph, the Independent and the Guardian – all of whom see a Prime Minister Johnson as an overt possibility.

Boris Johnson is a joke that stops being funny when he gets near the levers of high office. Being London Mayor is one thing. The powers are limited and being a joker plays well. Being Prime Minister is another. People voted for Ken Livingstone to be Mayor, but they never would have put him into Downing Street. The same fate will fall Boris.

The logistics are an obvious enough barrier to prevent him from ever crossing the door at Number Ten, long before, heaven forbid, the British public have a chance to put him there. To make his move to the national stage in the context of unbridled personal greed and gain would be deeply damaging and so transparently ambitious. Potential leaders never become leaders when they display such lust for power and at best ambiguous loyalty to their leader.

But his personal politics are also nowhere near as attractive as some may think. He is, I have long suspected, a canvas on which disgruntled Conservatives can paint whatever they want. He is but a screen on to which people project their own views. Boris’ appeal and authority, at the moment, as a potential leader arises from being a popular Mayor of London. But he trades almost exclusively on being antidote to politics. For him to climb the greasy poll would take all the superficial shine off him.

Allies argue that there is a serious man behind the buffoonery (for his sake, I hope so), who can master a brief quickly and faultlessly. He is not to be readily dismissed as he has, after all, won twice in Labour-leaning London – albeit against a disastrous Labour candidate. But people seemingly forget why he was forced to the London fray in the first place: he was an unremarkable Shadow Minister who made a serious of offensive and bumbling remarks, devoid of serious intent and a poor Commons performer who was eventually sacked by Michael Howard for lying to the then Conservative leader. Whilst it is unpleasant to note, it must be said that there are doubts Johnson’s private life would survive the inevitable scrutiny of high office.

His appeal outside London is a complete unknown, but having the Tory-dwelling leafy suburb of Bromley vote for you in droves is different to winning in the North, Scotland and inner cities – as the Tories must do if they are to prevail come 2015 and beyond. He is a profoundly flawed character, with as many enemies on his own side as in Labour’s. Far from walking a general election, if and when he ever does reach his ultimate ambition he will crumble.

And Labour will be waiting for him.

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  • Alan Giles

    I really don’t think David the Conservatives would ever be so stupid or desperate as to make Johnson their leader. They have already got the example of Duncan-Smith to induce blushes, another lightweight with the gift of the gab but a total inability to actually do anything worthwhile.
    Like Smith, a pompous windbag who made a totally inept leader.There is all the difference in the world of allowing the buffoon to blow millions of pounds on building eight Routemaster buses and allowing him to have his finger on the button, literally.

    He only just won London (2% if I recall was the margin) and as you point out, the North and Scotland are not going to be so gullible as Outer London, also his “colourful” private life, while it might have been a bonus point if he were in France and Italy would not go down very well in the Shires

    • http://twitter.com/mistyblulabour dave stone

      “He only just won London”

      A very pertinent point. If Johnson can’t win convincingly even with the assistance of those Labour members who broke ranks while under fire and became poster-boys/girls of the Tory campaign then there is little chance of him leading the Tory party to any destination other than defeat.

      • geedee

         Hmm – the results actually were 51.5 to 48.5 which is 3 %. Pesky voters eh?

        You guys are convincing yourselves that Ken really won, if only this or that had happened (which they didn’t). So next time you only have to turn up to win. Neil Kinnock anyone?

        Boris is now putting himself in the position that Thatcher & Blair got themselves into – no one can see anyone else as PM/Mayor etc & their successors lost.

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray

          London, London, London. No matter what they think, Boris would be a disaster in the north. We think he’s a pillock

    • john p Reid

      It’s also worth remembering that When Ken lost in 2008 he got 1.02million on second prefernces and Boris got 10,3M this time on second prefs’ to Ken getting 992,000, If ken had just done a bit better this time than he did in 2008 he could have won

      • John Dore

        Then again if my auntie was born with a…….. yadda yadda yadda…….

  • Bill Lockhart

    Boris Johnson, J’adore.

    • http://twitter.com/mistyblulabour dave stone

      Would you be happy for him to be leader of the Tory party, Bill?

  • Amber Star

    He is not to be readily dismissed as he has, after all, won twice in Labour-leaning London – albeit against a disastrous Labour candidate.
    ———————
    Oh that really is just too tiresome. It’s been shown by almost every London Mayoralty contest that GE Party affiliation has little bearing on the way people vote.

    The host of so-called Labour journos, bloggers, celebrities & politicians etc. who undermined the fantastic efforts of the grassroots Labour activists who gave their all to Ken’s campaign, it was a feck’n disgrace!

    Boris won by the flimsiest of margins. Had all the back-stabbing nay-sayers thrown their support behind Ken – or even just kept their fingers off the keyboard & their mouths shut – Ken would’ve won.

    But back to the main subject: Johnson as a contender for Tory leadership & a possible PM? Not likely. If anything, he is a stalking horse for Hague or Gove. As I’ve said before, Hague thinks he only lost because of the Blair effect. He fancies his chances against Ed Miliband. I might have thought Hague had a point, 6 months ago. Now, I think that Ed M would beat Hague almost as easily as Blair did.

    • Alan Giles

      I agree. As both Dave and yourself suggest, if Johnson had lost in London it would have been through no fault of “Labour Uncut” and several LL contributors including Rob Marchant and Jon Roberts.

      Though I think it is a deplorable thought, I genuinely see Liam Fox as the man who will try to stab Cameron in the back (or front) – a man, who, despite his fall from grace, does not lack massive conceit and self regard. He also has a lot of apologists on the right of his party.

      I can’t see Gove as a leader, if only because, whenever it was suggested that Robin Cook would make a credible leader for Labour (I was one of them) it was always pointed out that he (RC) wasn’t “telegenic” enough, because of his shortness of stature and beard.

      Gove doesn’t have Robin’s beard, but he doesn’t have any  of his other qualities either – Gove always reminds me of Kenneth Williams in especially pompous mode.

      One other point, though she was far from “ordinary”, and despite the plummy voice, and millionaire husband, Mrs Thatcher was always well regarded by (as the late Anthony Howard once put it) “Blackpool landladies”, because she appeared to them as matter-of-fact, down to earth and one of them. I frankly didn’t quite agree with Mr Howard, but I doubt that many Blackpool landladies would feel as relaxed about Johnson with his classical literature allusions: he is too highbrow for some, and, frankly, his desire to play the buffoon would make him too lightweight for the grandees, at least that is how I see it.

      • Amber Star

        Liam Fox & Michael Gove have something in common which makes them unlikely to succeed in a bid to become leaders of the Tory Party; both are Scottish.

        Nobody with even a passing interest in politics could have missed the Tory supporters’ opprobium being heaped on Brown &, to a lesser extent, Darling because they were born north of ‘the border’.

        As to Bo-Jo’s hopes of being leader, they’ll almost certainly have to wait until after the next election. The hysteria that Conservatives had over Brown ‘squatting’ in Downing Street rather rules out a Tory in-office leadership transition. The fact that the Tories are governing in a coalition adds further doubt to any change until after 2015.

        • http://twitter.com/mistyblulabour dave stone

          “Liam Fox [...] Scottish.”

          He has lived and worked in England long enough to qualify for full citizenship.

          • Alan Giles

            Exactly –  a bit like Blair, really, Fettes etc , but cut-glass accent and not a hint of  kilt, bagpipes and the croft. I know Dr Fox’s accent is more noticeable for a slight burr (something like Andrew Neil), but the image makers could probably work on that if they felt it was a problem. For example, if you hear archive recordings of Mrs Thatcher prior to 1975 her voice was much higher than the post 75 pluminess.

            There is something of the actor in Fox just as there was with Mrs Thatcher and Blair, so he would probably play along.

            Personally, I have no prejudice against Scottish accents, or people – I just don’t like the cut of DR F’s jib:  they have produced some very great engineers and artists (and one of the best experts on Bargain Hunt in the person of the wonderful Anita Manning)

          • Daniel Speight

            At the risk of upsetting some, I think both Fox and Hague have a problem in that the press, and to some extent the public, have doubts on their honesty in dealing with their own sexuality.

            Ted Heath, in far less press intrusive time, got away with it, but it’s a different world today. Maybe within the next few years absolute honesty will rule and ‘coming out’, if that is the case, will be an electoral plus.

        • AnotherOldBoy

          Speaking personally, the opprobrium I heaped and will continue to heap on the execrable Mr Brown is not because he is a Scot, but because he made an utter mess of our country’s (that the UK’s) economy.

          It was, however, a feature of the Labour leadership in the 1990s that it was dominated by Scots: John Smith, Gordon Brown, Robin Cook, Donald Dewar, Helen Liddell, Alastair Darling, George Robinson, Derry Irvine, Charlie Falconer and Gavin Strang are names that come to mind.

          • John Dore

            What does it matter that they were Scots? Is this not the United Kingdom?

          • ThePurpleBooker

            That is rubbish on so many levels. Derry Irvine could not have stood for the leadership because he was in the House of Lords and so was Falconer (who was appointed in the 2000s). You don’t know what you’re on about.

    • Hugh

       I’m not sure Ed M would beat anyone easily. Among the questions in that poll showing Boris Johnson as the strongest candidate for a Conservative win (although I don’t buy it, personally), there was also the question, “How well suited, if at all, would you say the following politicians are to being Prime Minister?”

      Cameron’s score: TOTAL WELL SUITED 44; TOTAL NOT WELL SUITED 47
      Miliband’s score:TOTAL WELL SUITED 25; TOTAL NOT WELL SUITED 62

      Even allowing for the advantage of incumbency, I’d say that’s not great for Ed – particularly given the party poll lead. 

      • Amber Star

        Yours are the scores from the previous poll.

        The current score is:
        Cameron: suited/ not suited 46/46
        Our Ed: 31/59

        Ed has improved by +6 points since May (time of your figures).

        • Hugh

           No, mine are the scores from the poll two days ago, accessible here:

          http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/archives/5969

          • Brumanuensis

            But it says,

            “On the same batch of questions Ed Miliband has also seen as rise since May, 31% of people now think he is suited to being PM (up from 25%), compared to 59% who think he isn’t (down from 62%)”.
             
            ?

          • John Ruddy

            Dont worry, tories are astill quoting polls from last year which showed Labour as less trusted on the economy.

            The polls now have shown for several months (since the Budget at least) that Miliband/Balls are more trusted on the economy than cameron/osborne.

            The more recent polls are ignored, of course.

          • Hugh

            ? indeed. Needed some sleep evidently. Amber is quite right.

          • LaurenceB

            Watch Cameron’s ratings plunge from next April onwards when the welfare cuts really begin to bite and “hard working” people lose their tax credits and the poor start becoming homeless because of the “bedroom tax” et al. 

            Cameron is a joint of meat rotting on the bone.

          • treborc

            Yes but will Labours squeezed middle class care enough about those who lose benefits or homes.

        • Hugh

          Yes, you’re right, sorry.

          I’d add, though, that our Ed trails Boris Johnson on suitability as PM. I think it’s pretty striking that fewer people see Ed as a PM in waiting than Johnson.

      • ThePurpleBooker

        Ed has a higher approval rating than Cameron and Labour has a much wider pool of support than Cameron. Tory MPs believe they will lose the next election.

    • http://twitter.com/_DaveTalbot David Talbot

      In your mind, Amber, you’ve convinced yourself that Livingstone won. He didn’t. Twice. He should never have been the candidate second time round and that he was was a failure of the Labour party. The only really surprising thing is that Boris, against such a flawed candidate, almost contrived to lose.

      And, before I am strung up by the Ken flunkies, I did (just about) indicate to vote for Ken over on Labour Uncut, as it is so popular around here:

      http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2012/04/18/break-out-the-nose-pegs-and-vote-for-livingstone/ 

      Thankfully, we’re not here to talk about Ken. But yes, maybe Michael Gove is another contender for the Tory crown.

      • ThePurpleBooker

        Michael Gove will not stand against George Osborne. Gove is also politically messed-up, which could put off potential supporters and he is seen as too intellectual. Osborne will take the crown if not Boris.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray

        But he got selected by London Labour party members. I do think its a pity there wasn’t a wider range of candidates to choose from.

        • ThePurpleBooker

          Clearly you supportedd his candidacy because that’s your politics. You probably wanted Bob Crow to contest the Mayoralty or Peter Tatchell.

      • Amber Star

         You’re a bit presumptious, aren’t you? You have no access to my mind so you should go by what I’ve written.

         I have no access to your conscience but maybe I hit a nerve about the so-called Labour supporters who undermined the efforts of Ken’s team.

         Even if you weren’t crazy about Ken, you could’ve spared a thought for them. And whilst you ‘just about’ indicated a vote for Ken, your attitude towards the grass roots members who worked so hard on his campaign – calling them “Ken flunkies”, extremists who’d “string you up” - it is just further insults which add to your lack of support for Labour’s mayoral TEAM during the campaign.

        • http://twitter.com/_DaveTalbot David Talbot

          I love this idea that the reason Ken didn’t win was the fault of Labour activists and voters who wouldn’t fall into line. Never about the candidate himself, oh no.

          I can content myself that I campaigned for Livingstone, albeit with my many and serious concerns about him as the candidate. You need to ask yourself why so many Labour voters couldn’t bring themselves to vote for him – but I imagine you won’t. It’s easy, after all, to launch swivel-eyed attacks on the evils of Labour Uncut.

    • ThePurpleBooker

      Ken was a disastrous candidate and we should never have selected him. End of!

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray

        But we did. Largely because no-one else credible came forward

        • ThePurpleBooker

          It was a fix between Ken and Gordon Brown’s people. Oona King was a more credible candidate than Ken. Ken was a disaster. Tessa Jowell and Alan Johnson would have been great Mayoral candidates. But because of people like you, Ken got it.

          • Amber Star

            I wasn’t aware that Alan Johnson was a candidate. How could ‘people like us’ support him when he didn’t stand? Personally, I’d have liked to see a credible woman candidate. Maybe next time we’ll have one.

          • ThePurpleBooker

            I said they would have been great Mayoral candidates – please do read. Tessa Jowell is a woman. Ken was a risible choice of candidate, really and truly.

  • trotters57

    The Tory brand is still toxic, Teresa May said they are seen as the Nasty Party and if and until they become a one-nation UK based party again they will never win a majority.
    The Tories know this of course so their answer is to put forward an anti-politics politician and hope they get that extra 5% floating voters to win them an election.

    It’s been said before but it’s worth saying again, if Cameron couldn’t get a majority against Gordon Brown they’ll never beat anyone.

    • treborc

       Ed Miliband today made the case for social justice with a hard edge.
      He pledged to end the “take what you can culture”, from the boardroom
      to the benefits system, and committed Labour to becoming the “party of
      grafters”. In reform of social housing, Miliband called for an approach
      where, “rather than looking solely at need, priority is also given to
      those who contribute – who give something back.”

      Will Labour that’s the question

  • Brumanuensis

    Boris Johnson is personally popular and widely liked.

    And for exactly these reasons, he will never become PM.

    Michael Sandel once noted that Watergate was more traumatic than Bill Clinton’s impeachment, for Americans, because Nixon was respected, whilst Clinton was merely liked and therefore more easily forgiven. But leaders can’t survive on being liked; they need to be respected. And no-one ‘respects’ Boris Johnson. He survived in May by running an apolitical campaign and thanks to Ken drawing attention to his own tax situation. Had Ken not done that and stuck to transport, etc. we would currently have a Mayor Livingstone again - if we recall how close the Mayoral election was, much closer than the opinion polls suggested it would be.

    Boris’ ratings are being inflated by the Olympics. Earlier surveys suggest he makes little difference to Tory approval ratings and his general clownishness won’t serve him well if he actually has to function as a politician making controversial decisions, as opposed to being an amiable dunce who goes around playing on his ‘jolly chap’ reputation.

    Mrs Thatcher was never liked, but she was respected, by her opponents and her admirers. John Major won because his sobriety and diffidence contrasted well with the more effusive and personable Neil Kinnock. Jim Callaghan was widely liked, but it didn’t stop him losing the 1979 election. Harold Wilson had a reputation for deviousness, but electorally was one of Labour’s most successful leaders. And that’s before we even compare Atlee and Churchill.

    • JoeDM

      Not just Ken Livingstone.

      According to the Sunday Times today the Labour Party has used a “tax-efficient vehicle” when it sold its former London HQ which allowed Labour to avoid “tens of thousands” of pounds of tax.

      Well, well, well.

  • Brumanuensis

    Someone who would be a good Conservative leader: Philip Hammond. He’s no fool and he’s quite a capable media performer in an understated way.

    A prospect for the future would be Justine Greening, who’s always come across quite well on Question Time, to my mind.
    Not Kenneth Clarke though. Too dozy.

    • Golden Shower

      Michael Gove. Tory leader. Just you wait and see.

      • Alan Giles

        IF he did – a very big if, I don’t believe he would ever become Prime Minister, He is a bumptious little man, and I don’t think the public would warm to him.

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray

          Gore would get Labour voters out to vote. He comes over as a mean little man

      • http://twitter.com/mistyblulabour dave stone

        But he looks like a creature from outer space.

        • treborc

          Who Hunt?.

      • Brumanuensis

        Not Gove. He has the charisma and elan of Al Gore, circa 2000.

        • Golden Shower

          If it wasn’t for America’s peculiar electoral college Gore would have become President after Clinton. He did win the popular vote.

      • ThePurpleBooker

        Gove will not stand against Osborne. Phillip Hammond would not stand against Osborne too. I reckon Justine Greening would go for it.

    • http://twitter.com/_DaveTalbot David Talbot

      Philip Hammond has always reminded me of a worthy, boring bank manager-type. I don’t think he has the finesse to lead a political party.

      And Greening comes across like Head of Prefects at school; insufferably smug and rather pleased with herself.

      Not overly acute analysis, I admit..!

      • ThePurpleBooker

        Greening is a good constituency MP, she is Northern, she is working class, she is non-Oxbridge, she comprehensive-educated, she is an okay Commons performer, she is bright, she’s not a former SpAD but has experience in business and she’s a woman. She ticks the boxes to change the Tories’ public image. Now that she is having big spats with Osborne and is no longer an Osbornite, it gives her the opportunity to stand without being shackled to George Osborne who she has been so loyal to in the past. Or she may just back Boris Johnson.

  • John Dore

    I would suggest that nobody underestimate BJ.  I read a couple of the articles this morning, one claimed that BJ would reduce the Labour lead to 1%. He may have only taken London by 2% but that was in the face of a double digit Labour lead. 
    Those who say that Labour Uncut and and Rob M made a difference are delusional, the readerships of either are so small, they are completely insignificant. Its just expediency for those with an agenda to raise this point. 

    I do think that had Labour fielded a baboon with a red rosette, we would have won.

    • Brumanuensis

      Yes, but his ratings have been inflated by the Olympics. It won’t last.

      • John Dore

        Only during the olympics, not during the mayoral election.

    • john p Reid

      Ken backing an independent in Tower hamlets didn’t help either

      • ThePurpleBooker

        He should have been thrown out of the party, for that. Not any backing, he campaigned actively for Lutfur Rahman and continually insulted the Labour candidate. Lutfur Rahaman, the man with links to radical Muslim extremists, Ken knowingly campaigned for him in an area where he knew there are strong racial tensions. I still cannot believe I campaigned for Ken and tried to get people to vote for him, I’m glad that Ken lost.

    • Alan Giles

      I Don’t think that Mr.  Marchant or the two PR boys posing in their gas masks would be very happy to see you say that – you know about their egos!: tread softly for you tread on their dreams….

      The point is all those articles and open letters might have had a small audience originally, but they got picked up by Guido, The Evening Standard, the BBC and other outlets – not least LBC Radio, which is more or less Tory HQ Radio (Nick Ferrari etc) and so their ramblings and rantings reached a much larger audience.

      And don’t let us pretend they were so naive they didn’t know this. Just like Ms Dorries and Burley they knew very well that their “innocent”  pontificating would be taken up by the wider media, always keen to highlight internal problems

      • john p Reid

        KEN HAD HIS OWN SHOW ON LBC RIGHT UPTO 4 MONTHS BOFRE THE ELECTION EVEN WHEN HE WAS LABOURS CHOICE, ALSO SIMON FANSHAWE IS ON THERE HE’ LEFT WING

        • Alan Giles

          Mr Reid, I sometimes wonder if you being an official of the local party is some sort of grotesque joke, if you will allow me to say so.

          Livingstone appeared in double harness with David Mellor (Conservative) Ferrari at one time considered standing as a Mayoral candidate in the Conservative interest.

          But let not us argue – let the other readers of LL listen to the station and make their own minds up. They can find it on 1152 metres MW or 97.3 FM, and both stations can be heard on the internet (just google LBC1152). I think most open minded listeners would perceive a sort of “Daily Mail” bias, taking the stations output as a whole.

          • John Dore

            Alan, Its nice to see party officials who take a balanced view.

          • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray

            LBC is very right wing. You can pick it up on digital radio and its very Daily Mail in tone

          • ThePurpleBooker

            Alan Giles – please be quiet. Ken was a disaster but Dame Tessa or Alan Johnson would have been brilliant.

          • Alan Giles

            Purple Booker thanks for more of your arrogant hypocrisy.

            Tessa Jowell busily signing multiple remortgaging applications, with her “colourful” husband would have gone down very well with the Evening Standard.

            You have the cheek to describe Ian Gibson (whose actions I don’t condone BTW) as a “criminal”, while you hero worship people like this and the ex MP and minister who claimed money for “cleaning” which had never been undertaken.

            If Labour has friends like you and Mr. Reid, who are barely coherent at times, if I may say so, it doesn’t need enemies.

          • ThePurpleBooker

            Barely coherent? Barely coherent. LOL! You are the man (if we can call you that) who claimed that Labour would have lost Stalybirdge and Hyde! Hahahahahahahaha! I am sorry but you are completely stupid, I bet even the guys for The Only Way is Essex could teach you a thing or two. As for Tessa Jowell, she never did anything as serious resulting in her been expelled from the party and been sacked by the Star Chamber even though she was no fan of Gordon Brown and Gordon Brown was no fan of hers. She increased her majority at the last election, in an area where I know from experience the Lib Dems are heavily active. David Mills had personal business relations with Silvio Berlusconi but it cost her her marriage to a man she loves very deeply and is still great friends with. Can’t you have a little bit of grace, you pitiful creep. You make me laugh, I am glad that you are no longer infecting my party with your bile.

          • http://twitter.com/_DaveTalbot David Talbot

            I think, in fairness, that is enough from you Purple Booker.

      • John Dore

        Hilarious, so you’re saying the the media output of the BBC, LBC, Guido et al came from Marchant, Watt, Hutwal etc.?

        What a joke. Labour Uncuts internet traffic rank is so bad that only a handful of people read it.

        You must live in a very strange bubble.

        • http://twitter.com/_DaveTalbot David Talbot

          But it is, for instance, read by the lobby – which puts it in a powerful position within the blogosphere.

          • John Dore

            It wasn’t the Lobby that put BJ into power, it was Ken.

    • http://twitter.com/_DaveTalbot David Talbot

      “Those who say that Labour Uncut and and Rob M made a difference are delusional, the readerships of either are so small, they are completely insignificant. Its just expediency for those with an agenda to raise this point.”

      Absolutely John. You’ll never, ever, found those same critics ask themselves why so many Labour party supporters felt the way they did though. Funny that.

  • John Dore

    The other fear I want to raise is the charisma / Image point… It is pivotal to the swing voters, my feelings are that the rankings are as follows and I’m trying to be objective here:

    Wilson    Charismatic 
    Thatcher    Charismatic
    Blair    Charismatic 
    John Smith    Positive Image and respected

    Callaghan    Neutral 
    Major     Neutral 
    Ed Miliband     Neutral
    Howard    No Charisma / negative imageDuncan Smith    No Charisma / negative imageKinnock    No Charisma / negative image
    Foot    No Charisma / negative image

    Cameron is unelectable and everyone knows it, we should see a victory in 2015 with the current Tory front bench. My fear is that so far Miliband is a little non de-script, he hasn’t raised his game enough and if he faces BJ we could face the old Kinnock v Major scenario where the guy with the better image won.

    • Brumanuensis

      Callaghan was actually more popular than Mrs Thatcher, so I think on charisma he should finish ahead of her. Cameron is quite charismatic too; I don’t think he’s an electoral liability yet for the Tories.

      • Hugh

         ”Callaghan was actually more popular than Mrs Thatcher”

        How so?

      • ThePurpleBooker

        He is a liability to the Tories. Cameron is seen as posh, incompetent, bully boy and out of touch. Cameron is not really charismatic, he is just a refined speaker. Again, you don’t know what you are on about.

    • http://twitter.com/mistyblulabour dave stone

      Not sure leaders can be fully assessed in isolation – inter-leader dynamics are important.

      Kinnock got in because many felt we needed someone who could rant and rave as well as Thatcher. Major was chosen because the Tories were fed up with ranting and raving. Smith confirmed the end of the ranting and raving era. And Blair, building on Smith’s circumspect style, initiated the managerial period.

      And by then the consequences of Thatcher’s rant and rave driven excesses prevented even the sunny-faced juvenile Hague from rescuing the Tories from the wilderness.

      • John Dore

        Ha ha    Hague was so forgettable I forgot him. For the sake of completeness:

        William Hague, no charisma, no image, entirely forgettable.

        • LaurenceB

          That’s no way to talk about our Foreign Secretary.

  • Daniel Speight

    BloJo’s strength is that by playing the clown he manages to convince the public he is not one of the political class.

    Of course it’s a lie. He fits into the Oxbridge PPE mold, although in his case wasn’t it classics? For sure his career goals were in politics. The danger he should show to the likes of the Milibands, Cameron, Osborne and Clegg is that given even this false alternative to themselves and their clones, the public will find something to support in him.

  • Forlornehope

    Many of the disparaging comments made about Boris are remarkably like those made about Teddy Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.

  • Forlornehope

    Many of the disparaging comments made about Boris are remarkably like those made about Teddy Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.

  • Forlornehope

    Many of the disparaging comments made about Boris are remarkably like those made about Teddy Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.

    • LaurenceB

      Johnson is NOT a Roosevelt or a Churchill. Don’t be ridiculous.

      • Alan Giles

        Imagine Johnson as war leader 1940-1945……..some chicken some (brass) neck!

      • Forlornehope

        You cannot possibly know that unless and until he gets into number ten. If you look at the earlier careers of both of those men they were regarded as irresponsible and dangerous. On the other hand it’s a rather large risk!

  • Daniel Speight

    Well I guess someone had top pull that corny chestnut and compare Johnson to Churchill, but it’s worth looking a bit closer as it says so much about today’s political class.

    The problem in comparing Blo-Jo to earlier maverick politicians is you can’t find the ‘maverick’ in him. It’s certainly not there in any policy pronouncements, just look back on the last London mayor’s election which he managed to win without stating hardly any policies at all. (Something that was missing also in his first term as mayor.)

    The more you look at him, it’s for show only. He is just an actor playing a part which he hopes will eventually lead him to the prime minister’s job. There isn’t anything new in him. It’s an empty shell. There’s just a man who who musses his hair before being interviewed on TV and talks mainly nonsense. That he is doing well says more about the paucity of talent among our present politicians.

  • http://www.facebook.com/Danzig.Jon Jon Danzig

    I’m more concerned about the future of Great Britain than the future prospects of Boris Johnson.  If family sentiments are anything to go by, the future doesn’t look good – whoever is prime minister. I asked government member, Jo Johnson, brother of Boris, if Britain could be a number one economy again.  He said no.  In fact, as a country he said we are just going to get poorer and poorer relative to other countries. To see the YouTube video of my question and his reply go to:

    http://youtu.be/IpvOOqMd6Ww  (55 seconds)

    • Tom Brown

       Yes.   We seem to have dropped back into pre-1980′s consensus politics of  “managed decline”.

  • http://twitter.com/Chas_Boz David Arrowsmith

    Remember Boris would go to the country with Murdoch and the Mail behind him and no party since 1979 has won without as least one of these supporting them. Also Boris would play all the old tax and crime themes beloved of Tory and floating voters; in conclusion Labour should hope he is never selected to be leader as a flabby Blairite Labour would never beat him, its easy to be gun-ho about an adversary in theory, hard in practise.

  • http://www.robbiescott.com/ Robbie Scott

    Do you think he might go for the bi-election in Corby ?  Would be interesting. 

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