James Bloodworth

Where Boris was right on inequality

Hold the front page, Conservative Mayor of London Boris Johnson has made a startling confession: he’s not a communist.

Well not quite, but almost. Boris in fact said in a speech to the Centre for Policy Studies yesterday that he does not believe economic equality is achievable, and that natural differences will always result in some people rising to the top of society ahead of others.

So yes, in other words we can ascertain that the Tory Mayor of London is not a Marxist-Leninist.

Judging by much of the reaction to his comments, though, some were apparently under the impression that he was.

According to the Guardian, Boris ‘invoked the spirit of Thatcher’ and delivered a ‘greed is good speech’.

‘He [Boris] moved to forge his own brand of Conservatism, which contrasts with the early modernising of the prime minister, by claiming that it was “futile” to try to end inequality,’ the paper’s front page fretted.

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