The trouble with Boris

Weeks into his job as mayor and with the loss of two advisers, just who is running London, asks Gerri Peev

WHEN the crowds gathered to watch the thrilling Wimbledon men's final on Sunday, a loud cheer went up when a popular blond was spotted in the crowd.

The appreciation was not for peroxide rock star Gwen Stefani, but another fair-haired celebrity: the London mayor, Boris Johnson.

Despite the tennis engagement coinciding with the climax of a row involving the resignation of his deputy mayor, Ray Lewis, there was still public support for Mr Johnson.

Does this highlight the fact that Mr Johnson is a Teflon Tory, who can do no wrong and still has the goodwill of the public?

Fast forward a few hours later to a Gay Pride parade in London, where Mr Johnson, in pink hat, is booed.

There have always been nerves at Conservative Central Office about the party ascribing so much power to a man whose main mastery had been fluffing his lines on chat shows.

Now, just weeks after promising to clean up Labour sleaze with a big Tory broom, Mr Johnson's own deputy has been forced out of his job after allegations of sexual and financial misconduct.

The past week has seen Mr Lewis fight claims about his behaviour during his time as a clergyman in the Church of England. The former vicar has also been accused of embellishing his CV by claiming to be a magistrate.

During the first two days of allegations, Mr Johnson stood up for his deputy, even holding a toe-curling joint news conference where, with every answer, Mr Lewis appeared to dig himself in deeper – despite denying all the allegations. Mr Johnson was determined to press ahead with an inquiry, to be conducted by former chief prisons inspector Martin Narey.

But by the close of the weekend, Mr Johnson had dropped the idea, saying it would have been an "inappropriate use of taxpayers' money".

While this is embarrassing for Mr Johnson, it is even more embarrassing for the man who asked him to stand as mayor, David Cameron.

The Tory leader also held a photo opportunity with Mr Lewis in his early days at the helm of the Tory party.

There is another link to the Tory leader through Nick Boles, the deputy of the Tories' implementation unit, the crack squad preparing the party for power. Mr Boles was yesterday hauled before the party to explain the lessons learned. He is also now going back to work for Mr Cameron.

Len Duvall, the leader of the Labour group in the London Assembly, says there is a worrying question that must be answered: who is running London?

"I genuinely think Boris wants to do the job, leading a big city as mayor. But is he running City Hall, or is David Cameron? Boris does not seem to be on top of the appointments."

Mr Duvall added that the latest spate of scandals was bound to have embarrassed Mr Cameron.

"They want to portray themselves as being ready to take power nationally on the back of running London. They made a point of this in briefings in the run-up to the London elections. It is now coming back to haunt them."

There is another connection to Tory HQ: Mr Lewis was the second adviser lost by Mr Johnson.

Last month, his director of political strategy, James McGrath, also went because of his remark that black people who were worried about Mr Johnson being mayor of multi-ethnic London should "leave".

Mr McGrath had served under Lynton Crosby; the fellow Australian who has advised the Tories on their general election strategy and worked for George Osborne, the shadow chancellor.

Mr Duvall says: "It took Ken Livingstone seven years to lose one adviser; it took Boris Johnson seven weeks to lose two."

But the latest controversies are played down by Tories publicly.

Bob Blackman, the only Tory to lose his seat on the London Assembly in the May elections, who has been selected to stand for Harrow East in the general election, said Mr Johnson had made positive announcements on tree-planting, knife crime and making City Hall more efficient.

What he could achieve would act as a crucial blueprint for the Conservatives, he said.

"The problem is that Boris is in government. He has got executive power. David Cameron is in opposition. He has to say: 'This is what we will do when we are in power', whereas Boris has to say: 'This is what we have promised, and this is how we have delivered'."

A senior Conservative, who did not wish to be named, suggested one of the bonuses about the new mayor was that "expectations were so low" among Londoners.

"If you come with high expectations, there is only one way for them to go. Nobody could say the first couple of months have been without hiccups, but Boris is more popular than ever. If you were to hold an election tomorrow, he would win by a landslide, because the public mood is on his side."

However the figure added: "If I were David Cameron, I would make sure my hands were nowhere near any of this, so that if worst came to worst I could say it was nothing to do with me."

"Boris also has to try and establish his independence as his own mayor and his own man. If people feel that the man in CCHQ is pulling the strings, what is the point of voting for a separate London mayor?"

He added that "he is still bedding down, still learning the job. He has still got to get his mood and tone right. He does need to take his foot off the pedal and get some clear thinking time".

An independent voice on London politics, Tony Travers, who is the director of the Greater London group at the London School of Economics, said the current controversies could be forgotten about if the next year went smoothly.

He also pointed out that London had adopted an Americanised political system, where a change of administration came with a total purge of advisers, in a very short space of time.

Mr Travers added that Team Johnson had been keen to be portrayed as "inclusive", and although it had not gone as planned, no-one could accuse the party of malice.

"It is not great for your political opponents to say you are incompetent, but for the Tories that is better than them saying you are nasty."

BACKGROUND

BORIS Johnson and gaffes go together like Gordon Brown and bad luck.

Here are some recent Boris blunders:

• On 23 June, he lost James McGrath, his director of political strategy, after he became embroiled in a race row. Responding to a claim that some black people might leave the UK if Mr Johnson became mayor, Mr McGrath said: "Let them go if they don't like it here."

• A month after being elected London mayor, Mr Johnson started a cross-border row by resurrecting the old "Scots are subsidy junkies" line. He said Londoners were "forking out for things in Scotland and you've got Scottish MPs, the Prime Minister and Chancellor, who are treating the country in an inequitable way."

• Days after being elected, he was filmed running six red lights, mounting a pavement and failing to stop at a zebra crossing during his 20-minute bicycle commute to City Hall.

• His biggest insult was to the residents of Liverpool. Shortly after the beheading of Iraq hostage Ken Bigley in October 2004, the Spectator magazine, which Mr Johnson edited, carried an editorial saying: "Liverpudlians cannot accept they might have made any contribution to their misfortunes, but seek to blame someone else, deepening their sense of shared tribal grievance". He was forced to head to the city to apologise.

• In November 2004, Mr Johnson was sacked by Tory leader Michael Howard from his front-bench role as higher education spokesman after admitting to lying over an extramarital affair.

• He insulted citizens of Portsmouth when in April 2007 he called it "too full of drugs, obesity, underachievement and Labour MPs", and branded it one of the most depressing cities in Britain.

• He took a dig at the people of Papua New Guinea in a newspaper article in September 2006, saying: "We in the Tory party have become used to Papua New Guinea-style orgies of cannibalism and chief-killing." He apologised after the high commissioner to Papua New Guinea said his remarks were highly offensive.

• He dared to take on "Saint" Jamie Oliver, who had been championing healthy eating in schools. A dull Tory conference in 2006 was overshadowed by Mr Johnson saying he sympathised with mothers who pushed junk food through the bars of schools. "I'd get rid of Jamie Oliver and tell people to eat what they like," he said.