Our Night With Boris

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And his thoughts on a certain 'Mr Leaving Soon'...

Last night the editors of EalingToday and ActonW3 got 'up close and personal' with the eccentric Conservative candidate for Mayor, Boris Johnson. Along with a couple of hundred of Boris' Ealing supporters...

At a party this evening in Ealing Town Hall, Boris Johnson gave a speech which gave everyone a taste of the policies he would bring as Mayor if he wins the election on May 1st. Out go bendy buses, high rises and The Londoner (Ken's newspaper) and in come new routemasters, hand-held scanners and transport improvements for boroughs like Ealing.

The invitation to the reception at Ealing Town Hall promised beer and plenty of wine, begging the question on many of our websites' subscribers lips - "Is Boris really serious about being Mayor?"

You're obviously all asking the right questions because Richard Barnes, Assembly member for Ealing and Hillingdon and Leader of the Conservatives for the London Assembly, said it was the first and most pressing question he put to the candidate.

Whatever Boris said convinced Richard he's serious and he is backing him all the way. Mr Barnes told us: "I can tell you, when I first met Boris I told him I didn't want to mess around with a dilettante.

"Here we have a fresh face, someone without cronyism and who knows this is a job worth doing. At the moment, we have an eccentric with no sense of humour as Mayor. Boris, on the other hand, is an eccentric with a sense of humour. He is utterly convincing and is busy gathering a fantastic team around him."

He was then whisked away to introduce Boris and told the audience that this was the Conservatives' "Greatest chance ever with the best candidate ever. Tired old corrupt Ken Livingstone has to go. The jaws of the tiger get closer and closer." It sounded impressive, but we weren't sure if Boris was supposed to be the tiger as he puts us more in mind of an old English Sheepdog, especially pre his current hairdo.

Boris had come hotfoot from Ealing Broadway Station which featured in his speech after he witnessed for himself the evening rush-hour scrum to get beyond the barriers.

He looked a little jaded by all the attention, but his speech was energetic and his pronouncements were greeted warmly - mind you he was playing to a friendly crowd. Within minutes he had got his first laugh, telling us that Mayor Livingstone (whom he has re-named Ken Leaving-soon) reminds him of Marlon Brando at the end of Apocalypse Now.

And another timely reminder was on his mind - two things Mr Livingstone had said before taking office: "I will never, ever get rid of the Routemaster bus" and "Politicians who stay too long in office become corrupt. I will not stay as Mayor for longer than two terms."

"We need to give Londoners the improvements they want to see in crime, transport and housing, and we also want to make sure they get value for money."

Boris said that he wanted to help get people onto the housing ladder; that we cannot continue to build the "unloved" high rise (could it be bye bye to the Ealing Leaf if Boris becomes Mayor?) and that he will be working with local boroughs, not against them, to provide more housing and affordable housing.

On transport: "We're not getting the transport we deserve. I stood outside Ealing Broadway Station this evening and watched huge numbers of people coming out. TfL are spending the bulk of their money in the centre of London - that's why there are blockages elsewhere. I insist that proper arbitration is put into place to prevent the squandering of funds in the future." He mentioned RMT bosses' salaries as a particular bete noir.

Boris was warming to his theme: "And on to the buses. Under Mayor Ken we've had a fantastic bus bonanza. There are far too many buses in the elephant graveyard of Oxford Street. We can't abolish cars altogether and penalise the motorist. Under TfL we've had a sadistic closure of routes."

"And," he continued, "It's high time to get rid of that 60-foot long bendy bus."

He said the bendy bus was fine in various Scandinavian airports. (What has he got against Scandinavian airports?). Boris wants to introduce a new routemaster "With an open door - that really is a beautiful feature."

"We have to get rid of this feeling of apprehension and nervousness about the under-18s on the buses. If teenagers misbehave, their Oyster cards will be taken away from them."

Safety on the streets is all important to Boris: "When I was growing up, you could cycle to school safely. There was no apprehension on the buses, in the streets and on station platforms. The atmosphere has changed now and it makes me angry."

He went on to describe how the Police are forced to waste time"filling in ludicrous politically correct forms".

"We need more uniformed police officers on the streets tackling crime. I want to see knives and other weapons taken away. Why can't we try hand-held scanners to tell whether people are carrying weapons."

Boris rounded up by saying that he would abolish the Londoner, "that pointless newspaper," and gave us a "100% guarantee that he would retain the Freedom Pass."

It should be an interesting contest: Old English Sheepdog versus Lizard - not forgetting PC Paddick.

 

Clare Gittins (Acton W3) and Charlie Canniff (EalingToday)

February 1, 2008