ConservativeHome's London Mayor blog

Boris may give Norris top job

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.

'Boris v Norris' would put London Tories on the map

The search for the Conservative Mayoral candidate has been a tortuous affair.  First came the postponement of the primary process and then the whole Greg Dyke affair.  Both events undermined the many good candidates in the race.  Monday sees nominations close.  It is an enormous shame that Nick Boles won't be one of the nominees.  Illness has forced him out of the race and I renew my best wishes to him for a full and speedy recovery.  I hope the policy ideas that he was working on will find their way into the hands of our candidates.  In Policy Exchange he built an impressive new centre right think tank - Britain's third largest - and I'm sure he had plenty of policy ideas for benefiting Londoners.

A number of the candidates already in the race have offered important contributions.  Victoria Borwick's recent campaign video offered the kind of manifesto ConservativeHome could support.  She emphasised lower taxation and a tough approach to crime.  Lee Rotherham has promised a waste tsar and London's taxpayers certainly deserve better value for money.  Andrew Boff has advocated recall-the-mayor powers for London's voters.  Warwick Lightfoot has his own thought-through vision.

My hope is that both Boris Johnson and Steve Norris decide to throw their hats into the ring.  I have doubts about both candidates.  I don't know if Boris will ever get past the comic routine.  I have no idea what ideas he has for London but he is a heavy-hitter who would command attention.  We all think we know Steve Norris.  We'd like him to devote more time to the campaign than four years ago but we know that he has charisma and standing again would show real commitment to London.  Critics will say he's been defeated twice and we need someone new.  I think there are big advantages in having a candidate who understands London and its issues.

Boris versus Norris would be a contest that would fascinate the media and that's the key reason why I hope that both men will run. We'd get oodles of publicity during the contest - in The Metro, in the Evening Standard, on London radio and television programmes.  The coverage of the good-natured Davis-Cameron contest in 2005 lifted the party substantially in the polls.  The same could happen in London if we combine the open primary idea with these two heavyweight candidates.

I am not endorsing these two men.  It's too early to do that and I have reservations about both and hopes for both.  There may also be a chance that a previously unknown individual may yet step forward.  My hope that Norris and Boris will both stand is based on my belief that they will make for a grown-up contest.  Not only will the party get a publicity dividend we will also properly test every candidate.  The competition will force every candidate to raise their game.  Norris will be able to rest Boris' seriousness.  Boris will be able to force Norris to drop any business interests that would undermine a third campaign.  Both Norris and Boris would show whether the already declared candidates are the minnows that they are often presented as or that they are the match of the candidates currently thought to be the heavyweights.

Norris "still in the running"

Former mayoral candidate Steve Norris says there aren't any serious candidates:

"Steven Norris has given a clear signal that he will stand again in London's mayoral election as the Tories' search for a celebrity candidate looks set to end in an embarrassing U-turn.

Despite months of looking for a glamorous would-be mayor, the Conservatives - who have set a July 16 deadline - have attracted only a handful of serious applicants to take on Ken Livingstone.

Mr Norris, the former transport minister, is the biggest name in the frame. The only other frontline contenders are Nicholas Boles, the former Tory candidate for Hove, and Victoria Borwick, a Kensington and Chelsea councillor whose slogan is: "A red head, not Red Ken." The rest of the 40 applicants include a taxi driver from Sidcup.

Mr Norris, who has yet to submit his formal application, said: "There aren't any serious candidates. On that basis, I'm still in the running."

Friends of Mr Norris, who was beaten by Mr Livingstone in the two previous London mayoral elections, say he is convinced he can win this time. One said: "Both [previous] times, the Tories were way behind in the polls. Now they are ahead and Ken is getting to his sell-by date. This has to be the time"."

Steve Norris: "If I run, I'll win"

Iain Dale interviewed Steve Norris on 18DoughtyStreet.com last night.  Iain has written about Mr Norris' sympathy for leaving the EU on his own blog.  Even more newsworthy from ConservativeHome's perspective is all of his body language and mood music on entering the race to become the Tory candidate for London Mayor.  Iain's take:

"Watch the [sixty minute] programme and you won't be left in any doubt that Steve will run for the Tory nomination and a good thing too. He told me he would scrap the congestion charge zone altogether, scrap bendy buses, reinstate Routemaster buses, tax company car parking spaces, ban goods vehicles from the streets at peak times and much more besides. It really is worth listening to. His enthusiasm is infectious. He finishes by saying: "If I run, I'll win"."

Perhaps, finally, the mayoral race is hotting up with Nicholas Boles - only yesterday - announcing his decision to quit Policy Exchange and campaign full time on his mayoral bid.  Also on 18DoughtyStreet.com last night there is an excellent interview with another Tory mayoral hopeful - Victoria Borwick.  Blair Gibbs of The TaxPayers' Alliance interviews Victoria about the cost of Ken Livingstone.  Watch the half-hour programme here.

See below for 18DoughtyStreet's video on Steve Norris' views on the EU.

Norris may "fall on his sword"

Steve Norris was on GMTV today (revealed by Iain Dale last night) saying that he hasn't made his mind up yet, but he would be willing to sacrifice his white, middle-class and middle-aged male self to "Dave", in order to let a more "diverse" candidate to come through.

He was very supportive of Cameron in the interview, and predicted Ken Livingstone would lose:

"I think Livingstone will lose this time – I think the magic went, I think we all understood why he won the first time. Personally I understood why he won the second time but by a much reduced margin my vote went up an awful lot and his actually didn’t go up at all. I think you know next time he is going to be quite vulnerable and particularly because Olympic costs over-run – we are all going to be paying huge bills in London. People are going to realise there’s another side to Ken."

Deputy Editor

Steve Norris would lose £400,000 if he stands

Today's London Evening Standard (not online) indicates that Steve Norris would probably enter the race to become Tory candidate for Mayor if no powerful candidate emerges.  "If a really good candidate were to emerge I will be happy to work for them," he told The Standard's Joe Murphy - "If not, I will be looking at my own position."

Joe Murphy's piece also says that, if he chose to run again, the twice-unsuccessful candidate for London Mayor would lose at least £250,000 from business interests plus £150,000 of share options in Jarvis.

Yesterday's ConservativeHome poll found that Steve Norris won about 10% support from the small sample of approximately 220 members.  This put Mr Norris as the favourite of those candidates considering running.

"Friends" of Mr Norris say that he is "unlikely" to run, however, and may support Sir Simon Milton.  Sir Simon, 44, has led Westminster City Council since 2000 and is Deputy Chairman of the Local Government Association.