[boris] still leading the race for mayor

I want to be Mayor for all Londoners


I wanted to run an analysis rather than a eulogy. In today's Telegraph, Iain Martin says about Red Ken:

He is now really up against it. The payola machine Livingstone built for partially reconstructed Marxists at city hall is seamlessly interwoven with his network of activists across the city, giving him real reach in campaigning terms.

Livingstone may well be tired, but he still has a very good chance of sneaking back in.

Johnson has to hope to persuade Tories in outer London to care enough to vote this time. The bad news for undecided voters is that a flirtation with the Liberals or the Greens is pointless.

The electoral system means that the top two candidates' names will first be identified and then only the second votes cast for those two are added to their first vote totals. If a voter wants it to count, their second vote should be cast for either Boris or Ken.

Johnson's campaign is showing signs of faltering as the winning post comes into view. The problem has not been that he has avoided playing the clown, rather it is a lack of grasp of detail. He needs to work out a series of coherent answers to questions such as: how much will his new Routemaster buses cost? Who will be in his team if he wins?

Beyond policy specifics - and there is much in his promises on knife crime, policing, open spaces and recycling that is worth commending - ultimately this is a set-piece battle in a culture war.

Johnson is the Cavalier fighting Ken's politically-correct Roundhead forces whose grip has been strongest in municipal government. In office his natural inclination would be to do a bit less, "don't just do something, stand there," as Ronald Reagan put it, rather than spraying money at friends and quangos.

In the end, I suspect a weary London will see the two names and opt for the fresher voice which seems to offer some hope for London. Boris is that fresher voice.

Not greatly relevant but here was a quick poll I ran last October on my site:

Ken the Newt………………….27%

Boris the Beefy………………73%

15 votes total

Well, all right - not all that scientific but some real indicators show that Boris, on balance, is still the best choice.