Simon Heffer wants to stop Boris too!
And he says so in the Telegraph too.
OK, he starts by saying Ken and Brian are rubbish as well, and ends up encouraging mass abstention, which is pretty poor advice since the politicians always ignore abstention (they call it "apathy" and pretend it doesn’t mean anything).
But goodness me, he really doesn’t think Mayor Boris is a good idea, and nor does he mince his words (not that he’s renowned for doing so).
There’s no point in me adding anything more to this post apart from quotes directly from the Heffer’s mouth:
[Boris’s buffoon act] conceals two things: a blinding lack of attention to detail, and (though this might seem to sit ill with the first point) a ruthless ambition.
Mr Johnson is the most ambitious person I have ever met. That ought to be a commendation for high office, since ambitious people normally understand they will go further only by doing their present job well. Mr Johnson’s scattergun approach to life will not allow this.
… What is there in Mr Johnson’s past to suggest that his mayoralty would be anything but [a comic spectacle]? Where is the evidence of his adroitness in administration, his sense of responsibility, his ethic of public service?
As [biographer of Boris, Andrew Gimson] makes clear, one of Mr Johnson’s failings is a belief that the public is there to serve him, not vice versa. He has given much pleasure to millions over the years, but will that cause the Underground to work better, the Metropolitan Police to catch more criminals, or business to thrive in London? Or would a Johnson mayoralty be yet one more chapter in an epic of charlatanry - perhaps, since it is so serious a job with potentially no hiding place, the last chapter?
… The guiding theme of his life is the charm of doing nothing properly. …
He is pushy, he is thoughtless, he is indiscreet about his private life. None of this matters much to anyone these days, which is why he has gone so far in spite of them, and tomorrow may go further still.
Lynton Crosby, the Australian public relations genius who has kept Mr Johnson out of trouble during his campaign, returns home after it.
Then what? Who will guide the unguided missile? Who will support the figurehead? Who will ensure he turns up on time, or at all? How will they be accountable?
All good stuff, all true, all valid reasons why tomorrow we really must all do our bit to stop Boris.