ConservativeHome's ToryDiary

Boris Johnson is "pure party Viagra"

A list compiled by Tatler magazine has Boris Johnson as the most wanted party guest.  David Cameron comes in at Number 12 in Tatler's annual list of what the Daily Mail calls "the [100] most wanted Toffs in town".

Tatler’s editor Geordie Greig told The Mail: "Boris and Marina have become the most head-turning couple in Britain – and this is no longer just to do with his mad blond hairstyle. He has become a folk hero in London and beyond, and his letterbox has become almost choked with invitations."

So our question to you: Which Tory would you most like at your party and why? You could have David Willetts and his silver shoes.

The statement Boris should have made: I will not thow a good man to the wolves

Yesterday evening we discussed the events that led up to the sad resignation of James McGrath as a senior aide to Boris Johnson.  Boris' statement reacting to James' resignation included these words:

"James is not a racist.  I know that.  He shares my passionate belief that racism is vile, repulsive and has no place in modern Britain. But his response to a silly and hostile suggestion put to him by Marc Wadsworth, allowed doubts to be raised about that commitment... James's remark was taken out of context and distorted, but he recognises the need for crystal clarity on a vital issue like this.  We both agree that he could not stay on as my political adviser without providing ammunition for those who wish to deliberately misrepresent our clear and unambiguous opposition to any racist tendencies."

In other words: James is not a racist but I'm not prepared to risk standing up to the people who suggest that he is.  In a very strong blog Iain Dale has accused Boris Johnson of a failure of backbone over the affair.  Those of us who know James McGrath are seriously angered by this episode. Comments on our previous post on this have been virtually unanimous in their opposition to the resignation.

Here's a quick draft of an alternative statement that Boris could and should have issued - perhaps on camera, supported by one of the ethnically diverse appointments that he has made:

"You will have seen internet coverage of remarks made by one of my advisers, James McGrath.  I ask you to look at the context of the remarks and judge whether the author of the piece - a Labour activist - is a fair-minded person or someone with a political agenda.  I know James and I know him not to be a racist.  He wouldn't be part of my team if he didn't share my belief that London is greater because of its diversity.  He wouldn't be part of my team if he wasn't committed to my agenda of building a London where every citizen is respected regardless of race, religion and sexuality.  There have, of course, been calls from some quarters for me to sack James but I will not.  To do so would only encourage more malicious and vexatious allegations against my staff and other public figures.  In these cases it becomes not about what somebody has said, but about how the media think somebody, somewhere could wrongly perceive what they said. Racism is still a real problem in too much of society but we devalue real incidents of racism when we over-react to unfortunate uses of words.  I want to put an end to the gotcha style of journalism that is always determined to think the worst of people.  Most Londoners are fair-minded and want to think the best of people.  My administration won't be bullied by the politically correct.  Our priorities are fighting crime, improving educational opportunity and affordable housing.  James will continue to help me in those tasks.  I will not throw a good man to the wolves."

Reason and fairness are the first casualties when someone is accused of racism

ConservativeHome has learnt that one of Boris Johnson's most senior advisers James McGrath has stepped down from his post to avoid causing London's new Mayor any embarrassment.  On a citizen journalism website - The-Latest.com - this is reported:

"McGrath was far from politically correct, David-Cameron-new cuddly-Conservative Party, when I pointed out to him a critical comment of Voice columnist Darcus Howe that the election of “Boris Johnson, a right-wing Conservative, might just trigger off a mass exodus of older Caribbean migrants back to our homelands”.

He retorted: “Well, let them go if they don’t like it here.” McGrath dismissed influential race commentator Howe as ‘shrill’."

If you read all of Marc Wadsworth's piece for The-Latest.com you'll read the words of a writer determined to injure James McGrath and the Conservative Party.  James McGrath shouldn't have been pushed out of his job.  The remarks above - which are probably horribly out of context - should have been judged in the real context of his record.  Anyone who knows James McGrath knows him not to be a racist.  Far from it.  He's a man of integrity who as Chief of Staff to Francis Maude (when the latter was Chairman) helped deliver some of Project Cameron's early reforms.  Since then he has served the party very well - not least in helping to get Campaign Boris back on course at the turn of the year.

Public figures can get away with misusing expenses and terrible policy failures but an unfortunate phrase on racial issues causes something to go wrong in the wiring of politicians and the media.  ConservativeHome celebrates multiracial Britain but we also worry about what should be called an industry that is determined to see racism when there is nothing but an unfortunate remark.  Is there a gutsy politician willing to face up to the hysteria that this industry generates?  Without such guts there'll only be more false charges of racism.

Boris was himself accused of racism at the start of his Mayoral campaign.  Out of context his remarks appeared unfortunate.  In the context of his full career they rightly didn't worry fair-minded Londoners.  Boris should have had the backbone to stand by such a loyal aide.  There should have been no pressure to resign and no acceptance of a resignation.

The party cannot afford to lose people who are as talented as James McGrath.  National debate shouldn't continue to be held hostage by the racism industry.

9.15pm update: Boris has released a statement saying James McGrath isn't a racist and that he was taken out of context, but had to go anyway because it could provide "ammunition for those who wish to deliberately misrepresent" him. Read it in full below...

"Ken's wimmin" to be kicked out of City Hall

Last Wednesday we noted the continued employment of some radical leftists and Livingstone loyalists such as Socialist Action's Jude Woodward.

The GLA's Appointments Committee has today recommended (following some guidance from the Mayor), that marching orders should be given to Woodward and "Ken's wimmin".

The salaries of the five senior women (most notably including Emma Beal, the mother of two of Livingstone's children), are thought to total £400,000. At least one of their roles, that of Women's Adviser, has been scrapped altogether for being a  "throwback to the eighties GLC".

The political civil servants problem

The radical political backgrounds of Ken Livingstone's inner circle, as documented by Martin Bright's Dispatches programme, was a rarely told story. The story's not over just yet though. Today's Londoner's Diary in the Evening Standard (not online) asks:

"how long will [Boris] put up with Ken Livingstone's key far-Left advisors who are still ensconced at City Hall pursuing their own agendas on their council taxpayer-funded salaries?"

It notes that Jude Woodward, a member of the Trotskyist group Socialist Action, is still responsible for "the Mayor's programme of major events promoting the culture, diversity and creativity of the city", and is currently helping set up the mayoral offices in Beijing and Shanghai.

The Diary also points out that Bob Pitt, a former stalwart of the Workers Revolutionary Party who runs a website called Islamaphobia Watch ("combating the racist ideology of Western Imperialism"), still works there.

Firing is harder than hiring, so Boris' handful of political staffers still tend to whisper when walking around City Hall. Ken Livingstone has reportedly told his loyal followers to "hang in there" pending his glorious return. Boris' task of moving on some of the more off-piste staff members in City Hall is just a taster of the challenge that will face an incoming Conservative Government as it deals with politically hostile appointees at every level of government. Ironically, it may need to rely on more political appointees of its own to push reforms through Whitehall.

p.s. Last week we noted how the Chairman of TravelWatch was sacked for endorsing the Conservatives, and Labour then trying to replace him with a Labour councillor. If you are interested in London transport issues do consider applying for the TravelWatch Board.

Boris holds first mayoral press conference

Mayor Johnson took questions from the press this morning in his first full press conference since taking up the role.

He started off with a short statement announcing that he intended to stand down as MP for Henley today. Asked later what qualities he thought would be needed by the next MP for Henley he cited being able to listen and to put up with eccentric people, before adding that the best quality was to be a Conservative.

Being open to the press was a big theme. He pledged that there would be "oodles of access" and invited the press to come along on all his tours of the city, apparently as Mayor Bloomberg does in New York. He would be as "open as possible, without driving you all nuts". "Not possible" muttered the Standard's Pippa Crerar, who was one of the journalists who called for a weekly press conference. Boris also asked them not to ring his mobile quite so much as his natural politeness when dealing with requests had a tendency of getting him into trouble!

The first two questions were about the tube parties which he described as "anthropologically misunderstood" and akin to a "Celtic-style wake". He added that it was "sad a few people got so wildly drunk" on this occasion, and that the no-alcohol policy would become self-enforcing before long. He later caused some chuckles when answering a question about supporting St Patrick's Day by saying he had "nothing against parties on the tube providing they're properly conducted... and without alcohol".

Unions blame Boris for tube violence

Tube unions are blaming Boris Johnson for last night's violence on London's Underground.  What started as a good-natured gathering of drinkers to mark the beginning of the new Mayor's alcohol ban degenerated into violence.  Seventeen arrests were made following a number of assaults on staff and reports of damage to trains.  Bob Crow, RMT general secretary, told The Times:

"Johnson should apologise personally to all those who were assaulted and abused last night thanks to a half-baked gimmick designed solely as a publicity stunt and without a moment's thought for the people told to implement it. We warned that it could put our members at greater risk of assault, but there is no comfort in being proved right when Tube workers have been injured and abused."

James Forsyth, over at Coffee House, speaks for us in reacting to this nonsense from Mr Crow: "This mindset which always blames the supposed provocation rather than those actually responsible for the actions is one of the great ills of our time. The moral responsibility for last night’s disgraceful scenes lies squarely with its perpetrators."

The whole episode makes the best possible case for the ban introduced by Boris Johnson.  What happened last night on a grand scale is the all too common experience of many travellers on a micro-scale as they are faced with alcohol-fuelled disorder.

The futures of Boris and Ken

In the May survey we asked for views on the futures of Boris and Ken (Clarke!).  There has been talk of Boris as a future Tory leader and of Ken Clarke returning to a Conservative Cabinet.  The box below summarises the views of 1,483 members.

Five ideas for Conservative tax and spend policy

Companies leaving Britain because of our nation's high and complex tax burden.  Anger over the 10p tax increase produces the biggest crisis of Gordon Brown's leadership.  Tax and the cost of living dominate the successful Tory campaign in Crewe and Nantwich.  The front page of The Mirror and thirty Labour MPs demand a tax break for motorists.  Labour MP Denis MacShane tells Telegraph readers that it's time to cut taxes and spending.  Nick Clegg claims that only his party is committed to reduce taxation for lower and middle income workers.  Professor John Curtice notes that support for higher taxes hasn't been this low for more than two decades.  PoliticsHome.com's 5000 panel finds that tax overtakes law and order in voters' list of concerns.  And, just today, The Independent's Associate Editor, Hamish McRae asks: "When times are tough, you spend less. Why should it be any different for a government?"

How should the Conservative Party respond to this changed environment?  The easy answer to that question is to stay doing exactly what the leadership has been doing.  A large opinion poll lead would appear to vindicate the current strategy but David Cameron has rightly warned against complacency.  Two years is a long time until the likeliest date for the General Election.  We can't take victory for granted and we can't assume that Team Brown will keep shooting themselves in the feet.  Most of all we need to think beyond politics and to the good of UK plc.

So here are five recommendations - some familiar, some new:

One: Don't renew the pledge to match Labour's spending.
Two: Promise we'll do for Britain what Boris is doing for London.
Three: Embrace deeper welfare reform and Iain Duncan Smith's social justice agenda.
Four: Promise to target tax cuts on the lowest income Britons.
Five: Abandon all schemes for 'replacement taxes'.

Two years to develop a programme at least as bold as 1979

As we've blogged before, the standard ConservativeHome talk to Conservative Associations over the last six months has been divided into two halves.

We begin with the good news and it's all political.  The rise of the Conservatives and the decline of Labour.  Bottler Brown's 'Ratner Saturday' was, we argue, the decisive turning point in Labour's political fortunes - and our own.

We then turn to the bad news: the weakness of Britain.  Britain's problems are different from 1979 but at least as challenging.  An economy built on debt.  A tax burden that is putting UK plc at a terrible economic disadvantage.  Schools that don't teach the basics. Hospitals that don't stand up well to international comparisons.  A growth in extreme poverty.  A policing culture that is cowardly in the face of militant Islam and anti-social behaviour.  A culture that worships irresponsible behaviour and is indifferent to the importance of parenting and the family.  An overstretched, underfunded armed forces.  A constant bleeding of powers to the EU, a United Kingdom in danger from separatists and an unprecendented distrust of politicians.

In yesterday's Daily Mail Max Hastings provided his own catalogue of Britain's problems.  It's a must-read piece.  He says that David Cameron will need to "play hardball" as Prime Minister.  Max Hastings is right.

In terms of meeting the big challenges we can take a lot of encouragement from Boris Johnson's first moves.  On Thursday the new Mayor of London announced that Tim Parker had been hired as day-to-day chief of City Hall.  Mr Parker has a great record of cost-cutting in both the private and public sectors.  Unsurprisingly, the left doesn't like this inspired appointment.  A record that he'll now bring to London after years in which Ken Livingstone allowed costs and council tax to get out of control.

Boris has also brought one of the two men behind Carphone Warehouse's success into an executive role for the Olympics.  Hammersmith & Fulham's tax-cutting leader, Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh, is helping with an audit of City Hall.  Ray Lewis, a very successful social entrepreneur, is advising Boris on London's problems of youth crime.

David Cameron has two years to prepare for 'hardball'.  Personnel picks are going to be almost as important as policy decisions.  The same individual helping Boris with his appointments - Nick Boles - is also right-hand man to Francis Maude; the shadow cabinet minister responsible for David Cameron's transition plans.

Boris: 'Where is Her Majesty?'

While Red Ken was in charge we know that City Hall was stuffed with copies of The Londoner, Morning Star and correspondence with global dictators but Boris Johnson has discovered a striking absence.

City Hall doesn't have a portrait of Her Majesty.

ConservativeHome has learnt that Boris is determined to put that right.

Quite extraordinary that our head of state wasn't honoured in the City Hall of our capital city.

Boris Johnson resumes his Telegraph column

The London Evening Standard's Paul Waugh reveals that Boris Johnson will resume his Telegraph column - estimated to be worth £250,000 a year.  He'll donate 10% of this to journalism bursaries and 10% to the teaching of classics in London's state schools.

Boris must have decided he needs the money.  As Mayor he receives £137,000 but that's a lot less than he is used to.  Paul Waugh has already dubbed him 'Four Jobs Johnson' because of this column, his Mayoralty,  and his chairmanship of Transport for London and the Metropolitan Police Authority.

It is, of course, 'Five Jobs Johnson' until he stands down as an MP.  Henley is not, however, on the new list of Tory Associations seeking applications from candidates.   With the LibDems pouring resources into Henley the Tories need to select soon.

Related video: Boris attempts to describe Britishness in this 150 second YouTube for the Equality Commission.

Boris more popular than Dave

PoliticsHome.com has just launched its daily opinion tracker of 5,000 UK voters.  The tracker provided the main splash in this weekend's Observer.

Its latest finding is that more voters are impressed with Boris Johnson than David Cameron.  The advantage is small.  3% more voters have a positive impression of Boris than have a negative impression.  David Cameron's advantage is +1%.  The graph on the right summarises the men's changing ratings: Cameron's rating is the blue line, Boris' line is green.  As well as this being a honeymoon period for London's new Mayor, it's also true that voters probably judge the two men according to different standards.

Boris confirmed yesterday that he would be scrapping Ken Livingstone's Londoner - a taxpayer-funded propaganda sheet that has rightly annoyed Conservatives for many years.  Not publishing it will save £2.9m.  £1m of the savings will be used to plant 10,000 'street trees' - particularly in London's least green, poorer communities.  Boris commented:

“There was little commitment of resources from Ken Livingstone to reverse the trend of decline in the number of street trees. I am taking immediate action to reverse this short-sighted decision.  In the last few years a third of boroughs have seen a decline in the number of street trees. Many London streets, particularly in deprived areas, have no street trees at all.  I believe that as many areas as possible should enjoy the many advantages that street trees bring. So today I have taken the decision to cut unnecessary funding of the Mayor’s personal publicity budget to plant 10,000 street trees by the end of my first term.  Trees improve the street environment in which Londoners live and work so I will do all I can to save the trees we have and campaign for more trees to protect London’s open spaces.”

City Hall has also announced that Kulveer Ranger will be Boris Johnson's transport adviser.  The Tory A-lister was, according to a press statement, "the lead delivery manager of the Oystercard for London in 2003 and led commercial negotiations on behalf of the Secretary of State supporting the King’s Cross redevelopment."

11.45am: Interesting post from the essential Phil Taylor on the trees policy. The Tory Ealing councillor asks if Boris is "subsidising feckless Labour boroughs that refuse to spend out on street trees whilst careful boroughs that provide street trees will not benefit?"

Boris' first week

ConservativeHome's favourite seven moments:

The London-New York partnership.  Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York, was not an admirer of Ken Livingstone but there was real warmth during yesterday's meeting with Boris Johnson at City Hall.  Both men are promising lots of co-operation and a new exchange programme, of ideas and personnel.  This will benefit Boris most - at least at first.  It's vital that Boris Johnson shows that the Conservatives' largest governing job in a decade is handled well.  The import of know-how from Team Bloomberg will help that task significantly.

The appointment of Ray Lewis as Deputy Mayor with responsibility for youth and opportunity.  Ray Lewis, brought first into the Conservative arena by Iain Duncan Smith, takes a very different approach to youth crime and opportunity than the Left.  Ray is a man who believes in tough love.  Melanie Phillips is a big fan, too.  Ray Lewis will oversee one hundred new Saturday clubs, aimed at helping young people off the conveyor belt to crime.

From 1st June there'll be an alcohol ban on London's buses and tubes.  In the week that cannabis rules were also toughened The Telegraph saw this as a defeat for social liberalism.  But an unlikely alliance of Bob Crowe and Guido Fawkes were unimpressed.  This won't be an easy policy to implement but in appointing the former BBC journalist Guto Harri as his communications chief, Boris will have first class advice on strategic presentation.

Guto Harri to be Boris' communications chief

Until recently he was at the BBC but left for Fleishman Hillard.  ConservativeHome has learnt that Mr Harri is going to be Boris Johnson's Communications Director.

Boris Johnson is putting together a high calibre team at City Hall.

OTHER KEY APPOINTMENTS

Nicholas Boles is Acting Chief of Staff

Ray Lewis is Deputy Mayor with responsibility for young people and opportunity.

Other appointments:

• Richard Barnes, Assembly Member, Statutory Deputy Mayor.
• Cllr Ian Clement who becomes Deputy Mayor, Government Relations;
• Kit Malthouse, Assembly Member, who becomes Deputy Mayor, Policing;
• Cllr Sir Simon Milton who becomes Senior Adviser, Planning.

Patience Wheatcroft to oversee full audit of City Hall finances.

11.15pm: Quick as a flash, Iain Dale has an interview with Guto Harri

Boris launches full audit of City Hall finances

Mayor Johnson is announcing the formation of an audit group today to investigate City Hall finances for potential savings and to recommend ways in which the GLA and LDA can be made more transparent.

The panel overseeing the process is headed by former Sunday Telegraph editor Patience Wheatcroft and includes council leaders Stephen Greenhalgh and Edward Lister, businessman Patrick Frederick, and an advisor from PWC.

They will deliver an interim report within 30 days and a final report within 60 days. Boris said:

"I was elected on a promise to provide Londoners with better value for money from their taxes. I am delighted to have recruited some of the most capable and experienced people in the capital to scrutinise recent performance at the LDA and GLA and suggest ways to prevent mismanagement and waste in future. We will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to ensure that the LDA and GLA deliver value for money to the taxpayers of London."

He also announced plans during the campaign to itemise GLA spending on a searchable online database.

Boris moves quickly to impose alcohol ban on London's tube and buses

From next month it won't be possible to drink alcoholic drinks on tube trains or London buses.

Boris Johnson issued the following statement to the London Evening Standard:

"I firmly believe that if we drive out so-called minor crime then we will be able to get a firm grip on more serious crime. That's why from 1 June the drinking of alcohol will be banned from the Tube, tram, bus and Docklands Light Railway.  The ban is supported by the Metropolitan Police and British Transport Police, and over the next month Transport for London will make the necessary legal changes and consult with staff."

The policy was welcomed by Don Shenker of Alcohol Concern:

"Public drinking and the behaviour sometimes associated with it can, and does, deeply affect people's ability to enjoy public spaces.  Taking a firm approach to public drinking in this way sends a strong message that public drunkenness is socially unacceptable and will support both the public and transport staff. This, in the end, is what culture change is all about."

Well done Boris!

8th May update: Video of BBC London discussing the ban

Cameron points to importance of low council tax in last week's victories

The Spectator's Political Editor Fraser Nelson has interviewed the Tory leader for this week's edition.  Here are some of the things we learn from the interview (that isn't yet online):

"[David Cameron] has two mobile telephones, one for speaking and one for reading emails. One phone has the ring tone taken from 24 — the hit television show about a counter-terrorist agent who regularly escapes mortal peril. ‘It’s an in-joke,’ the Tory leader says."

"‘Asking people to change their government is a big decision, and that is why there is not an ounce of complacency from me after the local results,’ he says. ‘There’s an enormous amount of reassurance we have to give people — that we have the right leader, a strong team, that we will take no risks with the economy and that we have a clearly worked-out plan for public services.’" Interesting that the emphasis is all on reassuring, rather than energising voters.

"‘If you take the local elections, there was no doubt in my mind that it was easiest to campaign in those places where Conservative councils really did have a record of keeping the council tax down, or at least promising to limit the increase,’ he says. ‘I haven’t done the sums. But I’m pretty sure that the areas where we did best were those where we were able to say: look, we’re in government here, we are helping with the cost of living, we understand your problems and difficulties.’"  Encouraging.

Boris and Ray Lewis to introduce "respect schooling" as part of the war on knife crime

Following another tragic stabbing in London (the twelfth teenage murder there this year) that came hours after Boris was crowned Mayor, he has written for the Evening Standard about his plans for Saturday courses for troubled youths that would involve "competition, discipline and punishment".

Newly-appointed Deputy Mayor for Youth & Opportunity Ray Lewis will be taking a lead on the Respect Schools plan, having been doing very similar work for years at the Eastside Young Leaders Academy. The article doesn't appear to be online at the time of writing but here is the key passage:

"Ray's approach has been to take young black males who have been excluded from school, and imbue them with magnificently untrendy boot-camp style discipline. He has been extraordinarily successful. He helps many of his students to perform a hand-brake turn in their lives. They win scholarships, they go on to university. Now he is going to join me in seeing if we can replicate his approach across London.

Of course it would be foolish to imagine that we can have a transforming effect overnight, but I am full of hope. Imagine what we could achieve with 100 Saturday schools like the East Side Young Leaders. Imagine if there were dozens of boxing clubs, rather than the handful surviving today."

Ray's work has long been championed by the Conservatives, we profiled him over two years ago as a potential A-list candidate for the Party. His is an inspired appointment.

> Melanie Phillips and Iain Dale are among the commentators to welcome Ray Lewis' appointment.

'Boris' ambition to be PM will make him a disciplined Mayor'

Today's Express (not online) includes a double page spread about Boris' ambitions to be Prime Minister.  It quotes former Telegraph Editor and biographer Andrew Gimson.

Whether true or not there's a long way to go before that should even be considered.  But, writes Trevor Kavanagh in The Sun, it is this ambition that will make him behave and not upset Cameron's chances of victory at the next election.

Nicholas Boles - Tory candidate for Grantham and Stamford - is in charge of Boris' first 100 days.  Nick, who was a Tory candidate for Mayor until illness struck and is now Francis Maude's deputy in preparing the party for government, will be helping the Mayor make key appointments over the next few days.  The Times reports that several key Livingstone aides will be sacked within days.

On Friday the Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, flies in to give Boris advice and to promise a new closer partnership between the world's two greatest cities.  Bloomberg is emerging as a close ally of the Conservatives - having addressed the Tory conference last October.

An FT leader also contains some good advice for the new mayor on his working relationship with Labour.  Don't pick fights, it warns.  Our expectation is that the 'fight-picking' is more likely to come from the other side.  We probably need a 'dirty tricks watch' to look for examples of Government ministers scheming to undermine the Boris mayoralty and Tory chances at the next election.

Will Boris be green?

Leading green campaigner Jonathan Porritt was worried before Boris' victory:

"The prospect of Boris as Mayor of London is just so scary. The prospect of Boris taking over London’s Climate Change Action Plan is even scarier. He may have learnt not to reveal his full contrarian bigotry on climate change, but he really doesn’t get it, and would rapidly scale back or completely get rid off the ambitious targets in the Action Plan. And that would be a massive set back. I just hope all the environmental NGOs can rally the troops in London in a pro-Ken campaign, even if they can’t come out and explicitly endorse him."

The Independent on Sunday is worried today:

"Although his father, Stanley (who would like to replace him as MP for Henley), was a pioneer of environmentalism, Boris has been until recently a climate-change sceptic. Seven years ago, he called George Bush's rejection of the Kyoto protocol "right not just for America but for the world".  After Mr Cameron went green, Boris said he was "terrified to dissent from the growing world creed of global warming", but that his mind was still "bubbling with blasphemous thoughts". So when he said in his manifesto for London that "City Hall should... strongly support efforts to tackle climate change", we are entitled to doubt the sincerity of his conversion. Especially as one of his pledges is to ditch Mr Livingstone's planned £25 congestion charge on larger vehicles."

Boris Johnson will be a 'green mayor'.  He presented an environmental manifesto that opposed expansion of Heathrow, promised 10,000 more trees on London's streets, opposed garden grabbing, promised more recycling and home insulation and supported a ban on carrier bags.  But this is a sensible environmentalism.  Boris Johnson does not have Ken Livingstone's green zeal.  The zeal that made London's outgoing mayor declare that this would be "the first election in British history to be decided largely on environmental issues".

Announcement of mayoral winner: Boris wins

9.55am: Watch David Cameron leap for joy when it's finally confirmed that Boris has won

9.52am: The earlier editions of the morning papers (as the night wore on some of them became more Boris-centred).  Click on the image to enlarge:

1.22am: Watch Boris Johnson's victory speech

12.46am: ConservativeHome doesn't share Boris Johnson's generous assessment of Ken Livingstone although we respect Boris for being kind in victory.  As Mayor, Ken Livingstone cuddled up to some of the world's most odious dictators - including Chavez and Castro - and also invited Islamic extremists to London - notably Yusuf al-Qaradawi.  He was an embarrassment to London and we are delighted he is no longer the Mayor of our capital city.  Muslim supremacists have lost their greatest western political ally.  Over on the Platform, Paul Goodman MP looks at how Muslim extremists attempted to keep Livingstone in office and how moderate, mainstream Muslims are increasingly playing a role in the Conservative Party.

12.15am: David Cameron's statement:

“Three years ago the idea that the Conservatives would win London and build up a 20 point lead across the county would have been literally unthinkable. London is one of the most diverse, vibrant, successful and important cities in the world- and in Boris Johnson it is now has a Conservative Mayor. Boris ran a serious and energetic campaign and deserves his remarkable victory. Britain is crying out for real change and it is the Conservative party - modernised and united - that is winning the battle of ideas.  We’ve shown there is an alternative. We must now prove it. But I believe that my party – the Conservative Party – is ready to step up for Britain”

12.06am: Mainstream candidates left the stage when BNP's Barnbrook starts to speak.

Midnight: Ken Livingstone makes emotional speech.  Promises to help new administration.  Wins standing ovation.

11.58pm: Boris makes VERY generous tribute to Ken Livingstone and hopes that he will continue to serve London in some way.  Ends speech by saying... Let's get cracking tomorrow and have a drink tonight.

11.50pm: BORIS WINS

11.45pm: Sky reporting that Boris leads 43% to 37% on first preferences.

11.33pm: Due imminently.