Keith (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} keith_london) wrote,@ 2008-05-03 13:20:00 |
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| Current mood: |  impressed |
Boris - "cut the cackle"
Boris Johnson, someone who has been "dismissed as a joke, a clown, a buffoon, a man defined by his hair", will in fact be officially sworn in as Mayor of London today (he will sign the declaration of office at 14:00). (He assumes office midnight Sunday).
In his acceptance speech, which showed both humility and generosity, Boris said, ".... And that brings me to my final thank you which is of course to the people of London. I would like to thank first the vast multitudes who voted against me - and I have met quite a few in the last nine months, not all of them entirely polite. I will work flat out from now on to earn your trust and to dispel some of the myths that have been created about me. And as for those who voted for me, I know there will be many whose pencils hovered for an instant before putting an X in my box and I will work flat out to repay and to justify your confidence." [Guardian - Johnson's speech in full]
"Both the speeches we heard, from Ken Livingstone conceding defeat, Boris Johnson accepting his new role, Mayor of London, they were both very distinguished and sensitive speeches in different ways. Ken Livingstone I think accepting rather too much responsibility for his defeat. Interestingly he got about 200,000 votes more in defeat than he did when he was re-elected in 2004. Boris Johnson making it clear, his intention to be mayor for the whole of London, and that's a good start," Tessa Jowell told BBC News's John Sopel. Others have commented that the speeches were "dignified" and "gracious".
The Sun - Labour’s May Day massacre; The Times - Brown bloodied as London falls in May Day massacre; Daily Mail - Boris is London mayor as he routs Red Ken to complete Gordon Brown's day of misery
One political pundit suggested that Boris's victory reflected more the current anti-Labour government tide than personality issues of the candidates. Boris himself acknowledged that there was a big anti-Labour movement, which helped his campaign. "In the end after too long in office, people get hacked off, I think that's what he [Ken] suffered from," Boris told Sky News. "What he had going for him, was that he stood for change, against a man who'd been in power for 8 years," said BBC News. Younger voters are said to like him because he is "mischievous, irreverent, funny".
The Guardian's Polly Toynbee has a dim view of Boris, "We have absolutely no idea what kind of mayor he'll be because he's never won anything... we know nothing except that he's always two hours late for everything, he never has the right speech, he never knows who he is talking to, and he often leaves people rather offended, but maybe he'll mend his ways." There's possibly going to be "control" from Conservative central office to make sure that Boris's mayoralty doesn't go off the rails. Johnson will represent David Cameron's brand of conservatism. Prof. Tony Travers thinks that Boris will want to try and "create a story what they're trying to do for London so that people can understand it".
The job of the mayor, who is responsible for a £11 billion budget, centres on planning, transport and policing. He won't be someone who will micro-manage that budget, but will more likely appoint "good people" to manage that budget for him. Boris Johnson's biographer Andrew Gimson said, "he is a brilliant joker, there's no doubt about that. But he's also serious - and in that respect he's like various American politicians - like Schawzeneaggr and Reagan - both dismissed as mere actors, in fact turned out to be very very great politicians. Boris has the potential to be a great politician... We can expect a complete change of style. On crime, he will be more determined on cracking down on children who come out from school at 3:30 and make life a nightmare for everyone else who get on a bus." Ken Livingstone has described Gimsons biography on Boris as "the scariest thing he read since 'Silence of the Lambs'".
Boris himself thinks he can do a better job than Ken, as well as build upon what Ken has already done, and correct Ken's mistakes. He told BBC News in his a post-victory interview, "I will be very proud if in 4 years time we can have achieved a significant reduction in crime, particularly on the spaces the mayor is directly responsible i.e. the buses and the tubes, and we're going to bring in immediate measures to do that.. And boot me out, boot me out, boot me out with gusto in 4 years time if we haven't pulled that off. I will be very proud if we set out the Mayor's fund for London - which will be a great thing for redistributing funds from [inaudible] to the voluntary sector in London. I want to lead national debate about having a new airport for London. I want to make sure we can deliver the Olympics properly."
"At the end of the day, Boris had a better message for Londoners - it's really as simple as that. For everything that Labour says, crime in London, which is key for most our constituents remains increasing [?} - particularly violent crime, gun-enabled crime. What it needs, is a mayor who's got a very strong personal commitment, so his pledge to chair the Police Authority is really important - that's exactly what the Giulianis and the Bloombergs have done in New York. Second point, the really loathed bendy-buses - the replacement of that with a much more user-friendly form of transport. Third point, the determination to give taxpayer value back at City Hall, because Ken has thrown money at problems rather than finding the most efficient way of dealing with them. So there are three very specific issues. And fourthly, protecting the environment in outer London and in the suburbs," said Shadow London Minister, Bob Neill.
In another post victory interview with Sky News, I though Boris summed it up very well when he said, "I think what Londoners want is someone who's going to cut the cackle, deal with the problems they face, articulate the issues clearly and simply, deliver tax payer value, cut crime, get more police out on the street."
On charges of racism and homophobia, his sister Rachel leapt to his defence. She told Sky News, "He's married to a woman who is half Sikh-Indian, his children are a quarter Indian.. as for homophobia, he went to Eton ....." Johnson's dad, the old block of whom Boris is a chip off, believes that Boris's success will be down to a classical upbringing. "If you can really master ancient Greek, you can do anything! Pericles' view of Athenian democracy is a very good model if you're going to be mayor of London".
The more I see Boris perform on TV and hear him speak, the more I think he really ought to be a Dr. Who character (one of the aliens most likely, perhaps a benign one). Too late now I suppose, now that he’s the second most important Conservative politician in the country (after David Cameron).
