The Sun backs Boris

The Sun - as well as carrying a major interview with Boris Johnson - has today backed the Tory mayoral hopeful. 

The Sun Says column lists five key Boris promises and concludes:

"Boris Johnson has the energy and imagination to give this great city what it needs... A new and fresh champion for London."

This is the first time (we think) a Conservative has been endorsed by The Sun since Tony Blair won the endorsement of Britain's biggest-selling newspaper in 1997.  A sign of things to come?

Congratulations must go to the media operation, Katie Perrior and others, who have worked so hard to get Boris a good press.  Victory is still going to require a lot of hard work but today should bring a smile to every Conservative.

In other good news for Boris Johnson, Brian Paddick has said that he could work with Boris but not with Livingstone.  The Times has the story on a crucial signal to LibDem voters as to how to use their second preference.

4pm: Photo of Boris on The Sun's battle bus:

6pm from PoliticsHome: "Tony Blair regarded it as a great coup to win the support of Rupert Murdoch's Sun at the 1997 election and Labour has always been twitchy about any sign that the mass-selling tabloid might switch back to the Tories. The PHI100 think that Gordon Brown should be anxious that The Sun is backing Boris Johnson to be Mayor of London.   Seventy per cent of the panel think this is 'a serious sign' that the paper is 'leaning towards the Conservatives generally'.  Only twenty one per cent believed it was merely 'a simple preference for Boris Johnson over Ken Livingstone'.  One panellist thought it was ' a shot across Labour's bows'.   Another observed that it was a case of 'Murdoch keeping Brown and Cameron on tenterhooks'."

Comments

[englandism.com]

Dear Mr.Livingstone:

GOTCHA!

[Editor]

Great comment englandism!

:-)

[James Cleverly]

Katie and Jo got a fair amount of stick earlier in the campaign, I now how much work they were putting in and could see that much of the criticism was undeserved.

This is great news; Katie and Jo deserve a huge pat on the back.

[David Belchamber]

Can we expect a comment from Ed Balls?
"So what?"' for instance.

[Jonathan Dexter]

Great news that the Sun has come out for Boris. I think Jo Tanner and Katie Perrior have done wonders to keep Boris gaffe free for so long! Along with the rest of the Back Boris Team, those girls must have put some effort in to manage to keep Boris on track. And he looks a lot smarter these days!!

[Tony Makara]

The Sun, as ever, shows an uncanny skill in tapping into the popular mood. The paper clearly senses that the public are finished with Labour and their more recent coverage reflects that. Getting the support of The Sun is vital to winning the next election, its readers are a community like no other readership. The Sun always tells it straight. If the Sun is backing Boris its a great ally to have.

[Tanker]

Whilst kate and Jo work very hard it is very unlikely they have secured the support of the Sun. They won't have any contacts at senior Editorial level.

They are still relatively wet behind the ears and solid ground troops rather than campaign HQ types..

Praise is surely due either to Boris himself of Lynton Crosby.

Anyway its good news!

[CJ]

This is good news indeed, we now need to tackle the unfair 10p tax issue. Can as many of you sign the No: 10 petition please: see link:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/10penceband/

[Pete, Bexley]

Great news to kick off the last few days of the campaign. This shows what hard work can deliver.

[Nicholas J. Rogers]

Change is in the air...

[Andrew Bradley]

We will see if it is true again that 'The Sun what won it' Whilst 'stating the bleedin obvious' as Basil Fawlty said, it cannot do us any harm.

Come to think of it, are there any similarities between Basil Fawlty and Boris Johnson - maybe Boris also likes Brahms!

[Ali T]

Tanker, I think your comments are unfair on the work that Katie and Jo have put in. Anyone who has had an opportunity to see them at one of the many events that they have attended with Boris or at one of the interviews he has undertaken will know that they have been amazing and a significant reason why Boris now has a real chance of winning in London.

But, in one respect you were right credit is due to the candidate and the campaign manager. Boris and Lynton are equally as brilliant, I suppose what I am trying to saying is that everyone in Team Boris deserves our admiration for fighting a great campaign.

From those doubting politicos who feared that no one could shift Ken to the most passionately enthusiastically Boris supporters who said no problem, Team Boris are pulling off a minor miracle. The campaign has been focused, exciting and engaging.

Although there is a long way to go Team Boris have given us a real chance of wining London – well done guys.

[Tanker]

I agree Ali T they work very hard as I say above.

But they aren't senior media strategists -they are foot soldiers. They don't have the contacts at senior level.

Somebody will have pulled this off at high level and its quite a coup!

[Geoffrey G Brooking]

ARE YOU SURE THAT SHOULDN'T BE THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1992?

[Gareth]

Pretty sure The Sun backed Norris in 2000. he even had the backing of The Guardian that year.

[Catherine Harper]

Er, The Sun backed Steve Norris in 2000, as did the Daily Mirror. As for Boris's "good press," people can only do so much. It's amazing how he continues to stumble through interviews, debates, hustings and other appearances.

At the Stonewall hustings he still didn't understand Section 28 (clue, Boris: that might come up). This after an interview in The Independent when the same thing happened. What a lazy candidate.

[Mr Angry]

Livingston is Leavingsoon - Oh Happy Day!

[Nostradamus]

Oh no, once again we have 'I love me' fan club. Would the BackBoris team stop the back-slapping-blogging on this site and get back to work. For the record I seem to remember that all of us were hanging our heads in despair and sounds of grief and wailing could be heard all across London town, why? Because the Boris campaign back then was lamentable, it lacked strategy and it lacked presence. Those Katie & Jo fans should be reminded that before Crosby the buck stopped with them, along with Mr Dan ‘I-was-never-Michael Howard’s photocopy-kid’ Ritterband. I don't mean a cheap dig at Dan but all of us know that the Boris outfit was completely amateurish and it is exactly why, at great expense, Lynton Crosby was brought in. So please cut the sycophantic script and lets comment on the impact that the Sun’s backing will have on a demoralised Ken…and that other chap who used to be a copper.

[passer by]

I'm sorry but isn't this a case of premature elation (I could use another word but, given the subject matter we are discussing above, I think it best not to)?

Steve Norris won the endorsement of The Times, The Sun, The Independent, The FT and the Daily Mirror (the only time they have endorsed a non-Tory in 100 years, I believe), as well as the Evening Standard in 2000. And while I am not sure of the voter-value of editorial endorsements, I will be amazed if Boris Johnson can pull off endorsements from the heavyweight broadsheet press which to date, like so many other serious people, have been seriously unimpressed with the idea of Boris Johnson being Mayor of London.

What is still more amazing is that instead of pulling himself together, sitting down and doing his homework, preparing properly and learning his stuff, we have a candidate who is still a disorganised mess, who doesn't have answers to predictable questions from (fellow) journalists, can't retain or recall information on TV or at public meetings, or even stick to a line about how much his policies would cost.

It's pretty amazing that after eight years this shambles is all we have to offer.

[undecided]

I'm no fan of The Sun but I don't know who to vote for. The man who appointed Lee Jasper to squander and misappropriate money in the name of "race relations" or the person who called black people "picanninies" with "watermelon smiles."

I wonder what would happen to a Tory candidate who wasn't a friend of David Cameron's who was found to have used that kind of language. I know he has since apologised but what does it say that he thought it was O.K. to use that kind of langauge in the first place.

[LondonLX]

@undecided,... I think you'll need to look into that quote a bit more... it was yonks ago and not offensive in context.. and even still he apologised for any offence it might have caused.
Whereas there no out of contextness with your ken statement - he did apoint jasper.. and still stands by him and would bring him back if the police can't make anything stick!

[wrong]

"even still he apologised for any offence it might have caused."

Wrong. He apologised for the offence that it did cause, and said that he had gone on a mental journey and come to understand why offence was caused.

It's a shame some of his supporters don't seem to be able to do the same.

[bloggingharry]

This is good news - but let's not get ahead of ourselves. There is still an election on May 1st, so let's get out the vote and make sure that Boris is elected Mayor of London.

Good feeling and sentiment doesn't win elections; votes do.

[Charlie]

"it was yonks ago"

Oh, that's all right then, isn't it. If only Enoch Powell was around today. Rivers of Blood? Picanninies? Oh, yonks ago that was.

[englandism.com]

http://tinyurl.com/6zbo5w

Ken will be dragged into the Sun-light, online, tomorrow should anyone wish to add to the existing pre-questions.

Should be entertaining.

[LondonLX]

well that's even better then if he actually understood why he was saying sorry.
I would guess that the reason why it caused offence is that people get tetchy when a minority might be upset slightly - political correctness gone mad n all that.
If he called them an offensive name directly then that's one thing, but using it as a quote to make a comment about someone else - how is that offensive (apart from to blair)?!

Methinks it's a sign that the labour types are definatley worried about him having Sun support when they bring up the picanninie thing again.
If you are saying black people are offended what he said, surely you are offending them more by insulting their intelligence.

[B.Garvie]

Well done to The Sun. Good to see common sense prevailing in their backing of Boris. They know the electorate are fed up with sleaze, corruption and jobsworths. Boris will being a much needed breath of fresh air to London.

[Worried]

The only reason Boris will win is because he is not Ken Livingstone. Unfortunately, Boris comes across as a complete lightweight who fumbles, mumbles and bumbles on a daily basis. In normal times, his candidacy would already be dead in the water. Luckily, we do not live in normal times. Although if Boris conducts himself in office the way he has conducted himself duringt he campaign it will reflect terribly on the Tory Party as a whole and will call into question David Cameron's judgement. Was there really no-one better than Boris?

[OMG]

"London LX"

Oh my God. It's not just UKIP is it?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4875026.stm

[Northernhousewife]

Passer by. From where exactly have you come and where do you go? Not from the archives it seems.
Having trawled through the comments today on PB rexcently, it would seem your assertions about past newspaper support are quite wrong.

The Sun supported Ken at first. The next time they didn't express a preference. This time they have come out for Boris.

[tabloid girl]

The Sun endorsed both the Conservative and Labour candidates against Livingstone in 2000, and for the first and last time in this election told its readers how to vote.

"We have seen the appalling aftermath of May Day, when anti-capitalist jobs took the centre of London by storm. These are the same scum to whom Livingstone was happy to give his support the last time they attacked our capital. A vote for Ken is a vote for them... The Sun doesn't like telling people how to vote in London tomorrow. But we have to say: Stick to your party allegiance. If you're Labour, vote for Frank Dobson. If you're Tory, vote for Steve Norris. With your second vote, put an X against any name except Livingstone."

The tabloid Express endorsed Norris, as did the Mirror, commenting: "Because, on the balance of everything we know about the four main candidates, it is Stephen Norris who appears the least risky and most capable bet for London... So we, Labour's most loyal ally in the press, are actually urging Londoners to vote TORY"

[Tony Hannon]

Congratulations. A soft porn, celebrity gossip, muck racking, moronic comic book has backed Boris. I don't see that he needs an endorsement like this if he's trying to be a serious candidate.

Frankly, I don't know why people care.

Tony Makara - "The Sun always tells it straight"??? I'll be puzzling over that for a few days to come...

[Bumbling Boris]

Ahem, did Boris tell The Sun that he will campaign for a new airport in the Thames Estuary? Perhaps he better call his minders.

[Jill Harries]

Brian Paddick has ruled out working with either the Labour or Tory candidates in the Evening Standard today.

Paddick said: "I could not work with Boris Johnson. Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson are as bad as each other and I would never serve in either of their administrations."

[Malcolm Dunn]

Jill, I think that it would be highly unlikely that anyone will offer Paddick any position in their administration. He wasn't a successful policeman and as a politician he's a dead loss.

[Carl Cameron]

I think perhaps the more interesting question is what position would a Mayor offer Boris in their administration?

Would they have him running Transport for London, put him in charge of delivering the Olympics, or perhaps they would put him in charge of the capital's emergency services?

[Jill Harries]

I know: Crossrail. They would want to put Boris in charge of delivering Crossrail.

[Edison Smith]

In fairness, it's no big switch by The Sun.

The paper has been cuddling up to Cameron ever since Brown's torpid and depressing speech at the Labour party conference last year.

If The Independent has a bee in its bonnet about climate change, The Telegraph about tax, the Daily Mail about asylum seekers, The Sun's bee is crime.

Crime and anti social behaviour and breakdown Britain is probably the area where Cameron is strongest, and The Sun has lapped it up.

[LondonLX]

well as long as it's not ken in charge of crossrail.. he'll probably find the prettiest, greenest land to build the stations on and then charge you £50 to drive to a mile of them - although not allow you to get any closer than that unless - unless you are on benefits, or from venezuela. The trains would have no windows or seats and run on coal.

They should make it so you can drive/ride on at either end - like the chunnel.

[Edison Smith]

Also - for anyone remotely interested in the poll I touched on in an earlier thread (I think it's the cab drivers one): Boris' lead has now widened:

Boris (41%)
Ken (33%)
Paddick (9%)
Berry (5%)
BNP (5%)

That's from 226 votes.

http://forums.cpfc.org/showthread.php?s=&postid=6552363#post6552363

Most voters live in the Boroughs of Bromley, Sutton, and Croydon.

[webman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2MLyV7wsAE

Is the other side not winning the war on the internet?

[LondonLX]

@webman... nah.. Boris is definately winning on facebook and many other sites.
kene seems to have a small following on youtube, but there's plenty anti-ken stuff too.
There's my efforts for starters:
http://www.youtube.com/user/londonlx

[webman]

I didn't really get that last one. I mean, stuff that is coherent and understandable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDie2o5Mxnk

[LondonLX]

All the anti-boris ones I see, such as the ones "webman" posted are just clutching at non-existent straws.
Like the people on the ITV debate last night (yes, I put aside by preducices and pressed the 3 button!) - the crowd were heckling 'answer the question', when he was but they were too stupid to understand... or the bloke that just made something up!

des-per-ate!

(yes, you'll have to be in tune with popculture of the last century to get my vids. never said they were any good, like!)

Most of the anti-ken ones are just news reports- he does it to himself, he does.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kMuHlt5IIs

[B.Garvie]

Those that say Boris is a light-weight should remember that Livingston had never run a business; neither Brown nor Blair had experience of running large organisations before 'running ' the country.

With the right team in support, Boris will do exceedingly well. He will give a fresh look and feel to 'dear old' London.

[Mark Fisher]

"remember that Livingston had never run a business" yes, sure, but isn't the point that he has governed differently as a Mayor than he did when he ran the old GLC?

I'm not sure that Boris can get away with such a lightweight(?) argument. The Mayor is a more powerful and prominent position than that of leader of the GLC, and the GLA is having an impact on London way bigger than the old GLC did under either party.

It doesn't help that David Cameron, or Michael Howard, or William Hague didn't think that they should have Boris Johnson in their shadow cabinet. But perhaps in the absence of experience he could name a really stellar team of people who have proven credentials at getting the job done. The generally Tory Anne McElvoy has a very good article about this in The Standard.

Vote Boris because he is tough on crime... except when it comes to his mates.

[D. Guppy]

Darius Guppy for Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority

[CONfused]

Lee Jasper too

[Neil Martin]

I have to disagree with Mark Fisher that the GLA is having a bigger impact on London than the GLC did: the Assembly has no real power and it doesn't, for example, own large swathes of council housing. As an outsider looking in (although I am in London several days a week) I am at a loss to work out why anyone would think that.