Boris Johnson has had a fantastic few days. On Thursday he drove a crowd in Hyde Park wild with his Mitt Romney banter. On Saturday he charmed the public with his thoughts on the Olympic opening ceremony (‘People say it was all leftie stuff. That is nonsense. I’m a Conservative and I had hot tears of patriotic pride from the beginning. I was blubbing like Andy Murray.’) Today, in between talking about glistening otters (which in itself is a feat: a politician getting away with talking about how wonderful it is to see semi-naked women in central London and not sounding like a dirty old man), he has emerged as ConHome readers’ hot choice to lead the Tory party after David Cameron.
It’s worth noting that Conservative members still want Cameron to take the party into the next general election: they do not see him as an electoral liability, and rightly so as he consistently polls ten points ahead of his party.
But when asked who they want as the next Tory leader once Cameron goes, 32 per cent of the site’s readers pick Boris, with William Hague coming in second with 24 per cent.
This is impressive, not least for the obvious reason that Boris isn’t actually an MP and has a significant obstacle to overcome of relinquishing his job as Mayor and being re-elected.
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