Boris for Mayor!

So Boris Johnson has thrown his hat in the ring for Conservative nomination for Mayor of London.

Can he win? Yes he can!

That does not mean he will, but he could.

He announced his candidacy in typical Boris style, turning up on a bicycle outside Ken Livingstone's office to greet a throng of the press, to ride off shortly afterwards. He has a website here, and I have to say I love this quote from an Op Ed piece in the Evening Standard:

I will be running against the strong advice of those who say I would be better off writing books, and going on television, and that I risk throwing away what remains of my political career; and though there have been literally hundreds of people who have urged me to run, I have found myself brooding - like all paranoid politicians - on the negative voices, the people who say that the great King Newt is too dug in, that his positions are impregnable, his machine too vast and well-oiled.

And having weighed up their warnings, over the last week, I say phooey.

There are some who think he is very bad, notably the privately educated and somewhat vacuous Polly Toynbee who has written this article in the Guardian. All Polly can see of Boris is what she wants to see. I wonder if she is going to attack Ken Livingstone for hanging out with the sort of people who want to stone homosexuals?

Mike Read (the DJ) has this interesting article on Comment is free as well, firstly saying he won't be in the race, and will be backing Boris. What he also does is outline some interesting ideas for London.

Guido has this which he says shows that Boris can win if he can just get out a few more Conservative voters whilst Mike Smithson has this on 7 reasons why Boris is in with a chance.

The one thing that is clear though, is that now there will be a real election for Mayor of London and it will be interesting.