In case you haven’t been reading the papers, London has a new mayor. Boris Johnson has won. I thought that both Boris and Ken Livingstone gave unusually graceful speeches at the count last night. There was no triumphalism or buffoonery in Boris’s speech - and his tribute to Ken was generous and sounded genuine. Livingstone, for his part, avoided bitterness and accepted responsbility for his defeat - which was also generous, given that the more plausible explanation is that he was a victim of an anti-Labour rip-tide that is sweeping Britain.

The conventional explanation of Boris’s victory is that the voters are fed up. The economy is turning down, people are scared of crime and everybody in London is in a bit of gloom. This seems to me precisely wrong. Electing Boris is the act of a supremely confident city. You wouldn’t take a chance on a joker like him if you were actually worried about the future.

In my magazine piece on Boris I made much of the idea that we might not want Mayor Johnson in charge, next time terrorists hit London. But actually, I think that’s probably alarmist. Fortunately, it will not be upto the mayor to organise the city’s response to a bombing. He will have to “speak for London”. Livingstone did that well on 7/7; and I think Boris would probably rise to the occasion.

May 3rd, 2008 in UK politics | Permalink