Some quick reflections on the mayoral vote

So Boris has won and won convincingly with 79% of the vote.  Victoria Borwick, previously the least known of the three candidates, came second.

Each of the three defeated candidates made their contributions.  Warwick's manifesto was stuffed full of useful ideas.  Victoria's no-nonsense approach to crime would give London some of what Giuliani-Bratton gave to New York.  Andrew Boff's ideas for a more democratic London - with powers to recall the Mayor - will, I hope, find their way into Boris Johnson's manifesto.

The level of participation was very disappointing.  Only 0.37% of eligible voters took part.  It might have been different if CCHQ had advertised the vote more enthusiastically but probably not much better.  The only real way in which turnout would have become respectable would have been a heavyweight contest - the Norris V Borris contest was the one ConservativeHome had hoped for.

Boris certainly has the charisma to win and London badly needs a break from Ken Livingstone's taxes, waste and political grandstanding.  On Radio 4 this morning Mr Johnson said the top issue facing London was the need for a more democratic London - with greater involvement of the London boroughs.  He attacked Ken Livingstone's imposition of rabbit hutch dwellings on London communities.  Over time Mr Johnson will need punchier messages than that.

He may also have a very big decision to make if Gordon Brown calls a General Election.  Will he fight Henley and risk communicating a lack of belief in his mayoral candidacy?  Or will he vacate Henley and risk having no elected position next May?

After the ups and downs of this process we can at least all agree that it's good we don't have Greg Dyke as our candidate this morning!

Comments

[William Hawthorn]

Spin has triumphed over substance, with the mainly Tory voters plumping for media profile rather than well thought through policies.

Unfortunately Boris' manner is a little too arty for the bulk of Londoners, and he has a lot of baggage in his past. Livingstone addicts will not hesitate to exploit this.

Meanwhile expect a few embarrassing U-turns as Boris discovers that he must comply with European standards on buses and it will cost a fortune to bring in Son of Congestion Charge...

sad, as we need clear blue water in our capital city.

[Happy Tory]

Boris is splendid. We're lucky to have him. A lighthearted manner, but a very good brain beneath it. We need a bit of humour in our lives now, or we might feel crushed by the general dullness, heaviness and brown-ness of life under this prime minister.

[Edison Smith]

Boris should give up Henley if an election is called.

I'm sure if he isn't elected Mayor there will be many a constituency elsewhere ready to take him on.

[Tony Makara]

The great think about Boris is that people are facinated by him and always want to listen to what he has to say. That is a big advantage when compared to Ken Livingstone whose monologues have people reaching for the remote.

[IRJMilne]

"...he must comply with European standards on buses..."

And how would this be enforced?

Not the best ground to pick a fight with the EU on, but if he finds someone to come up with a reasonable design it might be worth a go.

[David Jacobs]

I am very surprised just bhow badly Warwick Lightfoot has done - he was a very serious candidiate who put much time and effort into his campaign. What is more, he is the candidate who presnted the most coherent, thought-out based set of policies. HE presented a thoughtful Conservative pro-market platform. What a pity he only managed to scrape together 600 odd votes and get 3% of the vote.

Candidates sometimes enter races in the hope not of winning but that it might raise their profile and make them a more serious candidate for another office - this can however backfire if the candidate performs too badlyu - something that has clearly happened for Warwick Lightfoot.

[dougal]

Hopefully, Boris will take Boff and Lightfoot on to his team to give him the practical and intellectual London facts and figures he needs.

Anyone who saw him out canvassing in the Boroughs recently will know he gets a spectacularly warm reception from the public - that's his strength.

[Stephen]

Boris should not allow himself to be manoeuvred out of Henley.

He has greatly helped the leadership by taking on a task nobody of substance wanted.

Why should he pay a heavy price for doing so ?

[Londoner]

I very much agree with all of the last three posts, David Jacobs, dougal and Stephen. Warwick must be very disappointed - he won a lot of respect from people who are serious about this, but, in the end, such people had to go with the seriously viable candidate, Boris. I suspect that Warwick will have picked up a great many of the second preferences of the Boris voters - it might be a kindness, if this is so, for him at least privately to be given those figures. I do not think he is damaged so far as playing a major part on Boris's campaign and administration is concerned. I think he should be given the police brief and lined up as Boris's senior appointee to the police authority. Alternatively he could be "Finance Director" to rip through the central GLA admin.

[Henry Mayhew]

Surely you mean give the police brief to Victoria Borwick? Why is no-one mentioning her superb performance? She would make a hard-hitting deputy leading any brief because she has a tremendous amount of experience dealing with real London issues.

[Joseph Brayson]

Now that Boris Johnson has been elected, I think that Andrew Boff, Victoria Borwick and Warwick Lightfoot all should be rewarded for their efforts by CCHQ. One suggestion is that they could be given an opportunity to stand in the vacant 4 Conservative held seats.

[Comstock]

This isn't an 'I told you so' because I thought this primary was a good idea but 0.37% is very low indeed. I wonder how many of those were already Tory members?

Indeed I wonder where this leaves the idea of Primaries in this country in the future........

[Bexie]

I just hope that Boris ups his game a bit. He came across terribly badly on the Toady programme yesterday

[Dot.Con]

Warwick Lightfoot certainly had the most coherent and comprehensive manifesto and received strong support at the hustings I went to. Sadly this didn't translate into the wider vote - perhaps because The Standard, London's only paper, made its mind up early and was surprisngly dismissive of all three candidates who had real experience of London politics. Its leading articles during the selection process indicated that the paper had not bothered to understand the issues that Londoners have with Livingstone. Warwick did a good job unpicking the extravagance and divisive approach of Labour's Mayor and setting out a much more positive way forward. London Conservatives should make good use of his drive and political experience.

[George Hinton]

Boris needs to make the Mayor's role more accountable, not only to the GLA but also the electorate.
He must ensure greater transparency, particualrly over recruitment and spending. There has been the underlying suspicion for years that Red Ken had been exploiting publicity and PR budgets to create the cult of KenTheMayor for personal and political gain. These last 10 years very much a NuLab speciality.
Whether the vote for Boris was low or not he won convincingly and has a popular support amongst residents who are becoming sick to death of the shenanigans of Ken.
Perhaps he will get rid of the bendy buses following the latest fire in the Ilford Maintenance Garage.
Boris has a very good base to build on and needs to offer Londoners fairness, honesty, and transparency. Combine that with a brake on spending and the GLA/Mayor's precept on council tax and that will go down well.
He will of course have to face constant sniping from Bob Crow and his union mates, but must resist, force the stikes and break these dinosaurs and anti-londoners for once and all.
No doubt Boris will adopt the best of all that the candidates offered and we all look forward to a sea change.

[Bexie]

The curse of TfL does not only extend to bendy buses. Traffic light timings that just extend problems with congestion, poor junction design and poor road layout (e.g. adding a lane to a road and then removing it 200 yards later)

For some of us poor saps who have to drive to offices on the periphery of the centre, it is a daily living nightmare. There is no good reason why a journey from J8 of the M25 to Kew should take 2 hours. This is a large area that the mayor's office has taken to itself and they should sort it out.