Boring Boris? Johnson opts for risk-averse campaign launch

It was the launch event everyone was waiting for. After weeks of keeping a low profile – a submarine campaign according to critics – with just one newspaper interview, the leadership frontrunner Boris Johnson emerged this morning to officially kickstart his campaign. However, rather than opt for a circus tent, waffle freebies and thinly-veiled attacks at colleagues like some of his rivals, Johnson’s event at Carlton Gardens proved rather tame.

The former mayor of London was introduced by a new Cabinet supporter – Geoffrey Cox. Part of a carefully choreographed strategy to show Johnson has support from across the party, Cox took to the lectern (as he did for Theresa May at the last party conference) to explain why he thought Johnson was the best person to lead the country. Given that one rival leadership campaign this week believed Cox might endorse them, it was a smart move.