An intriguing political aspect of the London Olympics has been the supposed popularity of the city's mayor Boris Johnson. His bumbling buffoon persona has been judged by some observers to be a vote-winner not just in London, but perhaps nationally, too. Here on Merseyside, however, we view Johnson a little differently. Back in 2004, as well as being a backbench Tory MP, he was editor of the Spectator magazine. He approved an editorial, penned by Tory right-winger Simon Heffer, about Liverpool which rehashed all the old stereotypes about the city. The then Tory leader Michael Howard tried to minimise the fall-out by telling Johnson to visit the city & apologise (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3749548.stm ).
Johnson being Johnson, his utterances only made matters worse for Howard.
They say you're judged by the company you keep, so it's telling that Johnson is now receiving the support of Rupert Murdoch as a possible Tory leader (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/aug/02/rupert-murdoch-boris-johnson-prime-minister ).
The fact that Johnson would have to be elected as a Tory MP again is evidently seen as a minor & irritable detail.
Against this somewhat surreal backdrop, a well-timed article appears on the Guardian's Comment is Free pages (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/05/sonia-purnell-boris-johnson-not-prime-minister-material ).
Far from being the haphazard character he appears to be, Johnson is as cunning & calculated as Cameron.
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