Phil Taylor: The Press are getting bored of Boris not cocking-up

Cllr Phil Taylor notes the lack of journalists bothering to go to Boris Johnson's housing policy launch.

I went into London this morning for the fourth time in as many weeks to hear Boris Johnson's latest pitch on the eve of the start of the official Mayoral campaign which starts at midnight tonight.  The subject was housing and planning and I know this is one of the three main policy legs to the campaign but instead of fireworks it all seemed a bit flat.  Shaun Bailey, bright young Conservative parliamentary candidate for Hammersmith, was there to host.  Angela Harvey, Cabinet Member for Housing at Westminster, was there to give the borough's point of view and Grant Shapps was the Shadow Cabinet back up.  This is a very joined-up campaign that links national and local party structures in a way that the Norris' campaigns never managed.  At the end of the session Boris fielded six questions from the audience and gave the impression of being on top of his brief.

It is hard to make housing sound exciting but this is probably the most radical plank of the Johnson campaign.  He wants to sweep away the Mayor's target of 50% affordable housing in all new developments for the simple reason that it is not working.  In every year of the London Mayoralty there have been fewer social housing starts in London than there were in each of the eighteen years of a Conservative government. The Johnson plan looks at housing in the round and has proposals to address the whole housing market rather than just the social sector. In particular he has identified the need to help those who are too well off to qualify under existing shared equity schemes.

The main reason the event at the Royal Institute of British Architects in the West End seemed a bit flat was the lack of press.  The first question was from Dave Hill, sometime Guardian columnist and blogger, but not exactly hotshot political correspondent from a daily or broadcast media.  The second was from a trade press guy and the third was Mark McQuillan from LBC.  Beyond a couple of photographers buzzing around it really didn't have the feel of a big media event.

In the middle of February the launch of the crime manifesto at Millbank had a real buzz about it with lots of press and broadcast media.  Even the Mirror turned up.  At Kings Cross at the start of this month the buzz was still there along with the Times, Evening Standard, BBC London, etc.  A week later, last Monday, and although Boris was greeted with a packed auditorium at Bloomberg in the City to hear about the cost of living in London the press had disappeared and it seemed that even shadow chancellor George Osborne was not a big enough attraction to get coverage two days before the budget.  At first I thought that maybe it was the big storm keeping the press away and then I learnt that the Mayor was doing his transport thing at Stratford so I reasoned that the press had gone for that instead - which they did. 

Back to today and still no press.  What has happened?  Could it be that the press isn't getting the story it wants - Boris cocks it up?  Boris isn't cocking it up.  He is coming up with a complete programme of solid, well thought through proposals that are costed and backed up with decent research.  Sure some of them will be found wanting down the line but in comparing proposals from a modestly funded campaign team with the programmes of an eight year-old administration this is no surprise.  Many of Livingstone's policies have been proven to be disastrous in practice: eight dead teenagers this year to-date, all the £1.2 billion raised by the Congestion Charge spent on the Congestion Charge, fewer social housing units delivered under the Mayor than under the Tories to name three.

The press have learnt by now that they won't get many jokes, that Boris will stay relentlessly on-message and that they can get the whole speech and all of the referenced and footnoted research straight off Boris' website.  They have learnt they don't need to turn up because Boris will stick to the script.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, as lawyers like to say, Boris did have a few jokes.  In talking about trying to persuade people out of social rented housing into intermediate (i.e. shared equity) he quipped that "Lee Jasper springs mind".  The Mayor's disgraced police and equalities advisor is reckoned to have earned £117k per annum whilst paying a £90 a week rent for a large housing association property in Clapham.

Comments

[Charles Wheeler]

So now Greg Dyke, approached by Cameron to be the Tory candidate, is supporting Livingstone... and Brian Paddick, approached by Cameron to be the Tory candidate, is supporting himself.

At least Labour swallowed their pride and realised they had to have someone who could run the city. But not our party. Shame.

[Malcolm Dunn]

Yet Boris policy ideas are getting as much coverage as Livingstone's albeit it's pretty small. Paddick as far as I can see is getting almost nothing. This campaign will only take off in the media if either makes a mistake. What a shame.