Boris johnson

Are the Tories throwing dead cats into the election debate? This question only makes sense if you recall Boris Johnson’s 2013 description of a strategy deployed by an ‘Australian friend’ of his: ‘To understand what has happened in Europe in the last week, we must borrow from the rich and fruity vocabulary of Australian political analysis. Let us suppose you are losing an argument. The facts are overwhelmingly against you, and the more people focus on the reality the worse it is for you and your case. Your best bet in these circumstances is to perform a manoeuvre that a great campaigner describes as “throwing a dead cat on the table,

After Boris Johnson got his dates muddled while discussing his biography of Winston Churchill on LBC yesterday, it has come to Mr S’s attention that a selective memory could run in the family. Speaking at an Oldie literary lunch earlier this month, Boris’s father Stanley Johnson revealed to Steerpike that there is an embarrassing mistake in his second autobiography Stanley, I Resume regarding his wife Jenny: ‘If you get to page 21 of this book you will see it says “and Jenny and I were married October the 27th 1982 and we lived happily ever after”. Now, that’s 33 years ago but Jenny pointed out when she came to read it that I got the year wrong, and it

Boris was waxing lyrical about Winston Churchill during his weekly LBC phone-in earlier when it all went a little wrong. Discussing the ‘many different phases Churchill’ went through ‘in his life’, Boris recalled that ‘in 1908 I think you’ll remember, he was in favour of cutting defence spending when he was going around with Lloyd George campaigning on social affairs.’ So far, so good. However, he then said this: ‘So indeed, in 1922 when he was, sorry, 1920, in the twenties when he was Chancellor, he was accused later on by his enemies of having been a great cutter of defence expenditure and there was a certain amount of truth in that.’

With just days to go until the general election campaign, David Cameron has declared that this is last time he’s leading his party into battle. It’s not clear why he felt the need to make this announcement, a tactic normally used by unpopular and besieged leaders to buy time. He says he will stand for a ‘full second term’ but won’t serve a third. His party has lots of talent, he said – a comment that all party leaders make from time to time. But what’s unusual is that Cameron actually picked out three potential successors: Theresa May, George Osborne or Boris Johnson (in that order). Which will set all kinds of hares running.

As the election approaches, politicians will find their diaries packed with various events. It’s an equally busy time for those born with the gift of looking like a politician. ‘I’m lucky that I look like Boris,’ says Drew, a Mayor of London ‘lookalike’ who is on the books at the Susan Scott agency. ‘I often get stopped and while it’s not always pleasant, it’s nowhere near what a David Cameron lookalike I know gets.’ Alas, Boris won’t have Drew’s vote. ‘I may make money out of Boris, but I have never voted for him and that’s not going to change.’ With election party season on the horizon, Mr S has

This week Sol Campbell was named as a bookies’ favourite to be the next Tory candidate for Kensington after Sir Malcolm Rifkind stepped down following a cash for access scandal. While Rifkind’s resignation has sparked a debate over whether MPs should be allowed to have second jobs, the former Arsenal footballer thinks there is a simple solution. When Mr S caught up with Campbell at the 6th anniversary Amos Bursary dinner at the House of Lords to raise funds to help African and Caribbean British young men realise their ambitions, Campbell said MP salaries should be increased to over £67,000. ‘They should raise the salary, then you would have more diverse candidates,’ he told Mr S. However, Campbell shouldn’t have to worry too much

Have you seen Boris Johnson? The Mayor of London has been surprisingly absent from the Conservatives’ floundering campaign so far. He was not chosen to be member of the core team fronting the campaign — Sajid Javid, Nicky Morgan, Theresa May, William Hague and George Osborne in case you’d forgotten. His most prominent appearance was standing alongside the Chancellor at an event focused on London. Today’s Times splashes with the story that some Tories are beginning to worry, and wonder, why the Mayor isn’t being used more often. The numbers alone suggest Boris should be on TV screens every night to promote the Conservatives’ cause. According to a poll from YouGov/The Times today, nearly two thirds of

Even though Boris is building up support for his leadership campaign, he doesn’t want to have to stand in one this year. He needs David Cameron to remain Prime Minister after the General Election, and, as James reported recently, then take over following an EU referendum. That’s perhaps why the Mayor seemed quite keen on an earlier vote than the 2017 one that Cameron has officially promised. But a 2015 leadership contest, which the Mayor would certainly participate in, would come too early, partly because Boris still needs to shore up his support from MPs, and partly because he would still be Mayor. In an interview with the Evening Standard,

Boris Johnson’s campaign to woo Tory MPs is continuing as the General Election approaches. I hear that he held another one of his suppers for colleagues at his home in the last fortnight, and that the MPs who did attend were seriously impressed. One says: ‘It was a really uplifting experience. I feel very conflicted between him and Theresa [May] as potential leaders.’ Another described the evening as ‘great fun, relaxed. He arrived with a rucksack clanking with booze and we had a takeaway curry and shot the breeze. No heavy canvassing.’ Number 10 is allowing these dinners, which involve a mix of MPs loyal to Cameron and rebels, to

While Boris Johnson may be pleased to learn that Ed Sheeran has been mistaken for him, the 23-year-old singer was dismayed when a member of the public mistook him for the 50-year-old Mayor of London. Someone just mistook me for Boris Johnson and I wish I was joking — Ed Sheeran (@edsheeran) January 26, 2015 Sheeran hasn’t always been so unhappy to be associated with a Conservative politician. He previously dedicated a song to the Prime Minister. ‘I was playing this gig at some guy’s house and it was a very, very intimate environment, and they stopped the gig and I only had one song left,’ Sheeran recalled. ‘He was like ‘I’m so

Something funny is happening in this country. Our comedians are becoming politicians and our politicians are becoming comedians — and public life is turning into an endless stream of jokes. Last week, the comedian Al Murray announced that he would be standing at the next general election in the constituency of South Thanet, the same seat that Nigel Farage is contesting. Al Murray performs in the persona of ‘The Pub Landlord’. A sexist reactionary, never pictured without a beer in his hand, forever declaiming ‘common-sense’ solutions to Britain’s problems, Nigel Farage has welcomed the additional competition. Murray has refused to say what, if any, serious intentions lie behind his announcement

Who are the latest contenders in the Tory leadership battle and how much support do they have? That’s the question that Tory MPs and pundits love to chew over, even though there is no contest. The latest fixation is whether George Osborne has rowed behind the Boris campaign. James looked at this yesterday, revealing that Boris might quite fancy taking over from David Cameron after an EU referendum in 2017. Of course, the funny thing is that there isn’t a leadership contest because David Cameron is currently secure as Prime Minister. And as I explain in today’s Evening Standard, he could be secure for a while longer – where Tory

For most of this parliament, Downing Street has been thoroughly paranoid about Boris Johnson and his intentions. Any attempt by the Mayor to reach out to Tory MPs was met with deep suspicion. But now, the Tory leadership is actively pushing Boris to see Tory MPs — he was even invited to join the Whips for a Whips Supper at Boisdale last week. This is all evidence of the unspoken deal between Boris and the Tory leadership. He will be loyal and campaign hard for Cameron. In exchange, it will allow him to cultivate Tory MPs; helping him to rectify his biggest weakness ahead of any Tory leadership contest. These