In The Independent, Andrew Gilligan is fuming at the suggestion that the Evening Standard - to quote Stephen Fry, ‘as grossly partisan as is permissible without actually dropping pretence and coming out as a Tory Party broadsheet’ - ‘won it for Boris’. His stories were, he writes, ‘factual and measured, thoroughly and transparently sourced’. The suggestion that his paper was in any way partisan is treated with equal scorn. They ‘looked – quite hard’ for material on Boris, but, like ‘the anti-Boris papers’, ‘came up…blank’. Boris’s past record of bigotry and scandal, as well as his platitudinous, and deeply contradictory, policies, apparently passed by the beady eyes of these investigative journalists.
On his Times Online blog Daniel Finkelstein has nothing but praise for The Standard. They were ‘true and important’, he writes, although he ‘[doesn't] think it is hyperbole to say that without the Standard’s journalism, Boris Johnson would not have won’. Humm…
The Mirror, meanwhile, reports on the ‘glitzy bash’ at Millbank Tower, and quotes Boris’s sister, Rachel, as saying “It’s been champagne all night…oysters…caviar…it’s been fantastic. God knows who paid for it.” We’re sure that the boys from the Bullingdon Club swung by to add their congratulations.
Rachel, however, had bad tidings to add. “I don’t think you can write him off as Prime Minister,” she said. “As we were driving here tonight, we passed Downing Street and I said to my children, ‘It’s going to be City Hall one year and it might be Downing Street another year’.” God help us all.
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11 responses so far ↓
Surely you must be pleased with his appointment of Ray Lewis as Deputy Mayor for Young people?
What an inspired and optimistic start. Now, why didn’t Ken think of that? Was it because he was too busy channelling funds to Lee Grasper and propping up his own corrupt Marxist edifice? Thank god for Boris.
My my my…this will be one to watch. With a family member like that in his ear how long before Bojo causes the Boy David real problems?
“Surely you must be pleased with his appointment of Ray Lewis as Deputy Mayor for Young people?”
Mr Lewis is indeed an extremely admirable and inspiring figure. The political symbolism of his appointment requires little interpretation, but it was an optimistic decision, whoever made it, and I very much hope that Mr Lewis can translate his success at the academy into citywide policies.
I would guess that Mr Livingstone did not consider appointing him, as a) he was rather busy at the academy and b) he supported Mr Johnson during his election campaign.
“With a family member like that in his ear how long before Bojo causes the Boy David real problems?”
Indeed, one wonders if Stanley’s leap for power is an attempt to create a Johnsonian lobby.
“People didn’t mind about the racial insurrections
Because he stumbled on his words and had contrived inflections.
His hair was always messy and he’d forget to zip his flies
He was posh and silly – therefore incapable of lies…
Dudley had mastered anti-spin and the more he looked confused,
the more he could be prejudiced and always be excused.
So when May rolled around and the grass roots gave permission,
Dudley found himself as leader of the opposition.”
- Luke Wright, The Rise & Fall of Dudley Livingstone Esq.
lets not forget that Ray Lewis runs a leadership programme that is very similar to his previous job as a prison officer. I’m not doubting the mans sentiments but his view is not shared by all. But he has the full backing of the Tories with Steven Norris as Chairman and Francis Maude on the board. He has also been well championed by Melanie Phillips of the Daily Mail
I agree, though I don’t know enough about Mr Lewis to personally comment, that his views will not be accepted by all. Melanie Phillips argues that he’s “Giving these boys a combination of military-style discipline and profound belief in their potential,” and is also (to her approval), “Holding their (overwhelmingly single) mothers to account for their own inadequate parenting.”
Mr Lewis’s academy is, apparently, financed by Iain Duncan Smith’s Centre for Social Justice, which supports ‘transferable tax allowances for married couples’. The Johnson era will not, I fear, be kind to single mothers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7386569.stm
what’s Boris going to do about this the Toffs are shooting at each other
“Mr Lewis’s academy is, apparently, financed by Iain Duncan Smith’s Centre for Social Justice, which supports ‘transferable tax allowances for married couples’. The Johnson era will not, I fear, be kind to single mothers.”
…and so what’s ya problem?
I wasn’t aware of you guys so assiduously monitoring Ken’s mayoralty….Were you not bothered by the corruption, blatant cronyism and trough-guzzling?
Well, it doesn’t matter now, does it? Water under the bridge and all that. I hope you can be gracious enough to recognise and include Boris’ achievements as part of your ‘watch’.
“…and so what’s ya problem?”
It wasn’t a barbed comment. If you’d welcome such policies then I predict that you’ll be pleased.
“Were you not bothered by the corruption, blatant cronyism and trough-guzzling?”
Yes, but, as the OP suggests, we had The Standard to monitor that.
“I hope you can be gracious enough to recognise and include Boris’ achievements as part of your ‘watch’.”
Well, indeed. When the achievements start coming then I for one will be delighted to record them.
Will H: Ken was not perfect, but he does deserve a lot of credit for making the position of mayor something worth campaigning for.
I hope we’ll report on Boris’ achievements, too. Both because that means there will be achievements to report on and because pointing out flaws is much more successful if you do it in a way that is both honest and balanced.
Believe me: I’d much rather be wrong about Boris than have London suffer through four years of a poor management.
It’s rather difficult to talk about his “achievements” as of now: his policies are far from clear and, of course, he’s not been in power for all of about five minutes.
Hope you stick around - let’s see who is converted first.