Yes Andy a faustian pact. voting for Boris is just that. Max Hasting wroteHe worked for me as EU correspondent of the Daily Telegraph and then as a columnist when I was the paper's editor, and I have seen plenty of him since. He is a magnificent journalist and showman. He proved himself the perfect maitre d' for the London Olympics. But few maitre d's are fit to cook the dinner.Most politicians are ambitious and ruthless, but Boris is a gold medal egomaniac. I would not trust him with my wife nor – from painful experience – my wallet. It is unnecessary to take any moral view about his almost crazed infidelities, but it is hard to believe that any man so conspicuously incapable of controlling his own libido is fit to be trusted with controlling the country.His chaotic public persona is not an act – he is, indeed, manically disorganised about everything except his own image management. He is also a far more ruthless, and frankly nastier, figure than the public appreciates.When one of his many sexual affairs was exposed and much trumpeted in the headlines, he telephoned a friend of mine who was then running one of Britain's largest media organisations. "It's utterly disgraceful what your reporters are doing on-screen about my private life," spluttered Boris. "It's time you realised that I know all about your private life. If your organisation goes on reporting my affairs like this, you'll be reading all about yours in the Spectator [the magazine he then edited]."My friend responded: "Stop a minute, Boris, and think about what you just said. There is a word for it, and it is not a pretty one – 'blackmail'." Johnson waffled away, muttering that he had never really meant it. But he is much given to making threats, bearing grudges and behaving with malice aforethought.I would not take Boris's word about whether it is Monday or Tuesday. I feel a twinge of regret for speaking so harshly, because I am as susceptible as most of the British people to Johnson's brilliant, warm, funny public persona.
Peter Chadburn ● 2485d