Boris Johnson wins London Mayoral election

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: London Telegraph

Boris Johnson has become the most powerful Conservative politician in the land after pulling off an overwhelming victory in the contest to become Mayor of London.

His triumph capped an outstanding set of local election results for the Tories, and suggests David Cameron is well on course to become Prime Minister in two years’ time.

The final declaration was delayed as record turn-out led tellers to continue counting ballots well into the evening.

Mr Johnson’s victory was in part secured as a result of the increased numbers who took to the polls, as his team’s successful “doughnut strategy” of wooing natural Tories in the outer boroughs who in the past failed to vote in London elections proved devastating for Labour.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1921333/Boris-Johnson-wins-London-Mayoral-election.html

[Kolesar]

1. Mayor Ken Livingstone was a great peacenik

He organized an anti-bush rally when bush* defiled his city by visiting it.

[dipsydoodle]

2. Yes but overall

he was a complete pain in the arse. He was my local MP mid eighties : I speak from experience and not from what I read or see on the news.

Signature lines are currently turned off due to high traffic.

[Kolesar]

8. I had not followed Livingston much beyond those big headlines.

thanks

[DCKit]

3. "Conservative" is different in GB...

Though they're older, they have yet to corrupt the meaning so completely.

[Freddie Stubbs]

4. Conservative is the name of their party, as opposed to their ideology

Although it would be a fair statement that the Conservatives are the most conservative of the major parties in the UK.

[LeftishBrit]

20. True...

as with any party, there is a lot of within-party division. Current leader Cameron is a prat, but not a rabid ideologue; he would probably correspond to a moderate Dem rather than a Republican in the USA. However, some party members are VERY right-wing, and you may remember Maggie Thatcher as best pal and ideological soul-mate of Ronnie Reagan.

Boris is both right-wing and an utter buffoon. He couldn't run a whelk stall, let alone a city of millions. I think that the Londoners will be feeling plenty of buyers' remorse in the near future! He is a good example of the saying, "The trouble with political jokes is that sometimes they get elected."

[pattmarty]

9. McThatcher did a pretty good job of copying St Ronnie.

[FarCenter]

16. More likely St Ronnie copied Baroness Thatcher

Thatcher became the leader of the Conservatives in early 1975. She became Prime Minister in May 1979. So she was in power ahead of Reagan.

She was also capable of independent thought.

[AP]

17. Yeah, they're not so bad, if you like xenophobia and racism and hate working people

and if you think that selling weapons to every fascist government in the developing world is the route to a stable world.

[T_i_B]

24. Ah AP

How's things?

And how do you rate Gordon Brown so far?

[dipsydoodle]

5. Newspapers have called it early

Official result is not in yet as votes remain to be counted.

see here with time stamp : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7378792.stm

[galaxy21]

6. the conservative party is probably the equivilent of the democrats

Something like banning abortion would be unthinkable to them.

Boris is okay: wants gay marraige, wants to legalize pot, and hates George Bush with a passion ('The President is a cross-eyed Texan warmonger, unelected, inarticulate, who epitomises the arrogance of American foreign policy. ')

[dipsydoodle]

7. 'The President is .....

sounds a pretty fair assessment to me :rofl:

[LeftishBrit]

21. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day...

And Boris is a stopped clock all right.

[Ghost Dog]

10. Yes, THE RESULT IS NOT YET IN

(and it's hard to call since second-choice preferences may be required to be counted).

The Telegraph is right-wing, Boris-supporting.

Watch also here: http://uk.reuters.com/?refresh=true

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[dipsydoodle]

12. Now official - midnight BST

Boris has won.

[Ghost Dog]

13. Yup. I predict Gordon (UK PM) won't be long for the chop.

Labour has been routed across the country in local elections.

[T_i_B]

14. Yes, Boris won

Boris Johnson is a good writer but hopelessly befuddled, still seen as a bit of a joke really. I can't see him being any good at managing big projects such as the 2012 Olympics or Crossrail.

Boris won partly because people are fed up with Labour at the present time, and partly because the London press was running a big anti-Ken Livingstone campaign. Ken Livingstone was once seen as being the maverick, but 8 years in office have made him seem like the establishment to many. It's a shame really as Ken Livingstone is about the best most successful example of a progressive politician we have in the UK at present. It's a fair bet that Labour's next Mayoral candidate won't be anything like as good.

[non sociopath skin]

15. Perhaps you could post some of Johnson's good writing, Thanx.

I've obviously only seen the bad stuff. The poor man's Christopher Hitchens.

As I've said elsewhere, in a sense Johnson's personality is neither here nor there.

London's City Hall will be filling up with suits, minders and scriptwriters from Conservative Central Office as we speak. Johnson will be wheeled out on ceremonial occasions to give tightly-scripted speeches with strict instructions that any repetition, hesitation or deviation will mean no cabinet post for him in four years time.

Meanwhile London's real new leadership will embark on a programme of privatisation, transfer of whatever can be transferred to the charitable (ie unpaid) sector and cutting of Inner City services to ensure financial rewards for the well-heeled outer boroughs. This will then be touted by the Cameroons as a template for a Tory government.

Meanwhile, the Labour Party will scratch its collective balls and wonder why it didn't think of that first.

So it goes.

The Skin

[T_i_B]

23. Even if you don't agree with his views, his articles are still well written.

Compare a Boris Johnson article to one written by David Aaronvitch for instance.

However, I don't believe that the man's talents extend a long way beyond writing opinion pieces for the Torygraph.

And as for the personality issue, the London press made smears on Ken Livingstone's personality a major feature of their election coverage. It's one of the main reasons he lost.

[LeftishBrit]

27. I suppose he's competent at a particular type of journalism that I detest...

He got his start as a 'clever' student journalist in the Thatcherite 80s; and I met enough 'clever' student journalists as a student in the Thatcherite 80s to have been put off the type for life!

I think the 'Spectator' has always been pretty revolting. Someone once called it the 'Daily Mail for toffs', and that's not a bad description IMO.

[non sociopath skin]

29. I'm sure the Eton Sixth-Form magazine is crammed with such "clever" writing ....

... so Johnson doubtless had a head start.

The Skin

[non sociopath skin]

28. So could you post a url so that we can make the comparison?

Thanks

The Skin

[T_i_B]

33. OK then

An article published on July 7th 2005, about Jacques Chirac, the Olympics and the common agricultural policy. Sadly, none of these were the main talking point by the end of that day.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2005/07/07/do0701.xml

[Orrin_73]

18. The first Turkish-Brit to become the mayor

of a major British city! Congrats Boris.

[non sociopath skin]

19. So Turkish right-wingers are OK, huh?

The Skin

[Orrin_73]

22. I do not agree with many of his politics

It was just a congratulation

[fascisthunter]

25. Thanks....

I knew more right wing crap was being peddled.

[BooScout]

26. The most important question is......

Does this mean that Boris won't be able to host 'Have I Got News For You' anymore? :P

[non sociopath skin]

30. Every cloud has a silver lining!

The Skin

[T_i_B]

32. Well, on the other hand

I think that Friday's episode proves that Brian Blessed is a more then able replacement for Boris.

[RandomKoolzip]

31. Yuck. I liked Livingstone.