Boris Johnson - buffoon or bonus for Tories?

TORY LEADER David Cameron believes he scored a coup by convincing Boris Johnson to stand for London mayor. If Cameron wants maximum publicity and a circus of a contest, he will get it.

Johnson is a maverick who presents himself as 'not really a politician' - popular in a time when trust in politicians is low. Hundreds signed up to support his campaign and thousands signed up to various Boris for Mayor websites. In the first weeks he outstripped Ken Livingstone in the polls.

But he is, in Polly Toynbee's words, a "buffoon", a "jester, toff, serial liar and sociopath", and his candidacy could rebound on Cameron. While he may be 'anti-politician', he is the opposite of what Cameron's modernised Tories are supposed to be. He is an arch Old Etonian reactionary, famous for defending parents smuggling burgers and chips through school fences and for opposing compulsory child seats in cars. If people think Cameron lacks gravity, Boris Johnson is completely weightless.

He is also a proven liar, who appears, along with the rest of his class, to consider that laws and common decency do not apply to him. Most significant was his support for his Old Etonian fraudster friend Darius Guppy, to whom he was recorded agreeing to give a journalist's address so Guppy could have him beaten up. He may be a coup for Cameron now, but could prove to be another big embarrassment.

Paula Mitchell