Not long now until polling day. If you are able to help get out the vote in the final stages please email [email protected] with your contact details (including post code) and you'll be put in touch with local campaign. You may end up in the telephone call centre at CCHQ. Pictured above is Graeme Archer with Boris himself.
Another way of helping is to send the ConservativeHome video to your friends. The link is http://www.themudthrower.com.
Two weeks ago there was some confusion after an unwell Kate Hoey pulled out of a Boris event but - just speaking to Nick Ferrari on LBC - Boris Johnson has announced that the Labour MP for Vauxhall will serve as a non-executive Director advising Boris on sport and the Olympics.
All this depends upon Boris winning on Thursday, of course, but will Ms Hoey now keep the Labour whip? Two days before a crucial election she has given the Tory candidate a significant boost.
Mr Johnson told Nick Ferrari that Ms Hoey will boost sports facilities across London, protect school and other playing fields and ensure that ALL London's kids benefit from the Olympics. Ms Hoey was a Sports Minister for Tony Blair.
11am: Is Ms Hoey in trouble with Labour? This from Adam Boulton & Co:
"On his way out of Cabinet, Chief Whip Geoff Hoon was asked by Sky's Niall Paterson if Hoey should have the whip removed. "We'll see," was the succinct response."
Click on the image below to enlarge the bulletin sent to City Circle supporters.
Today's FT speculates that Steve Norris may become Boris Johnson's nominee to run the London Development Agency if the Tory candidate becomes Mayor next Thursday.
"Mr Norris, who fought unsuccessfully to become mayor in 2000 and 2004, said he had been given “no promises” about a job. However, he has been in close touch with Mr Johnson and would be keen to run the London Development Agency, which is responsible for driving economic growth in the capital. The agency needed a shake-up, he suggested in an interview with the Financial Times. “It is the most dysfunctional body that most of us can think of.”
Also in his interview with the FT, Mr Norris affirmed Mr Johnson's 'doughnut' strategy of targeting Tory votes in the outer suburbs. He also said that Met Chief Sir Ian Blair should resign if Boris Johnson won because he would have lost the support of Londoners.
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'."
It appears that Labour MP Kate Hoey was to attend an event with Boris Johnson this morning in her Vauxhall constituency but pulled out at the last minute - saying she was ill. She had told journalists she was attending but it's not clear that she would have formally endorsed the Tory candidate. Just appearing with him would have been significant however.
Backing Boris would almost certainly have resulted in her losing the Labour whip. Just attending the event would have confirmed her already semi-detached relationship with the Labour Party.
Speculation that Ms Hoey will defect to the Conservatives has been live for a long time. Does this event mean it's still likely or have the Labour whips pulled her back from the rubicon once and for all?
More on this story as we get it. Hat-tip to Rosa Prince on Three Line Whip.
In the meantime... New YouGov/ Standard poll has Boris up by 6% on second preferences.
Update: Rosa Prince has now spoken to Kate Hoey.
Second update: Kate Hoey was well enough to attend other events.
We know it's going to be close. But it's time to forget the polls... it's all about turning out the vote now. Next week London can elect a new Mayor and end the nasty, wasteful years of Livingstonian sleaze.
Margaret Thatcher couldn't do it. Tony Blair couldn't do it. But next Thursday Boris Johnson can defeat Ken Livingstone at the ballot box. Next Thursday Londoners can end the reign of City Hall's high-taxing, dictator-hugging Mayor.
That should be enough for every Conservative but next week isn't just about voting against Livingstone. We can vote for something positive, too. Last Thursday we sought the ten top reasons to vote FOR Boris. And this is our selection of what you contributed (with one or two of our own favourite policy ideas).
We've ranked the ten with number one as our top reason for voting for Boris Johnson:
(10) Boris wants to put a Battle of Britain hero on Trafalgar Square's fourth plinth. The BBC has more on this campaign to honour New Zealander Sir Keith Park.
(9) 10,000 'street trees' for the London neighbourhoods that need them most. No more garden-grabbing. Also popular with many Londoners is Boris' opposition to a third runway at Heathrow.
(8) Boris will scrap bendy buses. Bendy buses clog junctions, crush bicycles and are a haven for fare dodgers. They are not made for London's old, windy streets. Boris will scrap them and replace them with a modernised, disabled-friendly version of the Routemaster.
(7) Boris will work with the boroughs (a common theme of his) to build 50,000 more affordable homes by 2011. His development manifesto also includes protection for the small shops that are often the lifeblood of local communities.
(6) Boris will be a great international ambassador for London, a celebrity figure who will attract tourists and investors. London will no longer be represented by a Mayor who devotes a large part of his office to consorting with Chavez, Castro and other dictators. Yusuf al-Qaradawi and other extremists won't be welcome at City Hall any longer.
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