Boris Johnson for London Mayor

[mumtolily]

Please say yes!

Marina - the only fully paid-up Tories I can actually stomach are Ken Clarke and Michael Portillo, both of whom, I believe, live in London (Ken Clarke not too far from here!).

So I guess one of these, maybe, but I doubt they'd be interested.

Wasn't Michael Portillo sort of interested at one point?
I too have a guilty soft spot for Ken Clarke - and also Chris Patten, bags

Fair point Marina and at dh comment. I can't actually come up with a name for the Tories candidate. Ideally I would like to see a competent and big name / personality candidate with a successful track record in management in business or public service.

I would really like to see a rational approach to London and less emphasis on Ken's "causes". I am also desperate for a more sensible approach to road pricing. I find it utterly incredible that a married couple of investment bankers living in a £5m house in Belgravia can drive in two enormous cars every day to Canary Wharf and back (eight miles) for 80p each and yet a skint family in Kennington with two SN children have to pay £8.00 every day for the privelege of driving their children 1 mile to school every day. Am also hacked off that our fab butcher has recently closed down after 40 years due to being situated just inside the zone. Please please somebody introduce a fee per mile system. I don't care how much it is!.

Agree that the principle of road pricing, while good in terms of the environment and making the streets far nicer for pedestrians in the City, is not fairly applied as in your example, chocolatedot. I have friends in Bow who are similarly placed in terms of copping a ridiculous amount for a daily, necessary journey that cannot be made by public transport.
He does have his dubious hobbyhorses, and makes a great deal of noise about them, true. I found his conduct as revealed by that recent case against the Evening Standard journalist utterly disgraceful.
But stuff like free public transport for children and the massive improvement in local bus infrastructure out in the suburbs has been very good news for us as a family.
Dh rambles on about "it'll be us next", poor love. His illusions have crumbled since 1997 alas

You are right - the free travel for kids is fabulous. Unfortunately living in central London, our buses remain as crwoded as ever at peak times though.

but chocolatedot - the buses are now victims of their own success! I also live and work in central london, and the bus service as improved immeasurably. As such, it is now a viable alternative for many commuters, and hence busier.

Still better than the tube though, in terms of rush hour overcrowding.

chocolatedot - you mean that we had the Met for free before the creation of the Mayoralty? Wow!!

Somehow I don't think that the London top-up goes on the police...

Seb Coe would have been quite a good choice for the Tories - but he may have turned it down already - does anyone know?

The Ken-top up DOES go to the Met (DH works for them!) It also goes towards the fire brigade.

I vote for BorisofWales as mayor.

i prefer portaloo to coe

LOL at Batters - know exactly what you mean. I could just see him as one of those Dr. Who villains who unzips their human disguise to reveal their heinous alien flesh.

definitely

It was the Tories who destroyed a lot of coordinated cross London service provision because of a dislike for its political complexion in the 1980s. They have already started trying to remove free travel for older people (by removing the guarantee for the Freedom Pass) and children on the GLA.

Also, though it was the Labour government who pushed through tube privatisation, Ken resisted it and was expelled from the Labour Party for a time on this very issue. Now Metronet is asking for more money, we will probably pay the price of a disatrous decision to privatise the tube anyway. But if the Tories win the Mayor in addition to their current strength on the GLA, do you really believe they'll stand up to companies like Metronet who believe they can get away with taking public sector organisations for everything they can?

batters I have met boris and he is indeed fanciable.

mayor of london - absolutely not.

1. Boris would be an entertaining mayor

2. He seems to be highly intelligent and competent, I genuinely think he would do a good job 3. He is indeed oddly fanciable

no I dont think he would do a good job. because he cares too much about being popular, and he isnt really a man of the people - he is a toff.

he is clever, though.

Noooooooooooooooo!!

CaraLondon, you've got me confused with someone else - I'm on your side!. I've met Boris a few times and he is utterly charming and very friendly. A shocking flirt though

He is my sister-in-law's MP and she says he's absolute rubbish. Not that she's any judge mind you.