Blogs and Briefings
Boris, battlegrounds and ballet shoes
Mayor of London Boris Johnson paid a visit to Greenwich University last night to set out his stall for 2012. Connect consultant and Conservative councillor Adam Thomas was there.
18 October
The gathered faithful of Lewisham and Greenwich borough Conservatives were treated to a typically rousing Boris polemic on the state of London and the challenges ahead: bendy buses would be banished to a Scandinavian airport, the Jubilee Line had been cudgeled and flagellated into shape and the village ethos of London would be truly fostered.
But despite the jokes and classic ‘Boris-isms’, the Mayor was clearly setting out his manifesto to take on Ken Livingstone at the election next year. It’s clear the battlegrounds are emerging around police on the streets and transport improvements. However, there was also a word or two for the Government to take heed of, particularly in maintaining the capital as the centre of economic growth and prosperity, with Boris as its protector. Did you know that London is the main supplier of ballet shoes to China…?
The speech certainly cheered the activists in attendance, in an area where a Conservative is something of a rare species. With his main opponent announcing a raft of pledges on the same day, and the old Boris/Ken rivalries going up a notch, the contest certainly seems to be hotting up.
But it’s probably best to leave the last word to Boris – “No newts, is good newts!”
