The Wardman Wire

On Wednesday evening the three main candidates for London Mayor (and Sian Berry from the Greens) met in the city for a business hustings session watched by members of London First, the CBI and London Chamber of Commerce – and I was there too.

First up the candidates were given the platform for six minutes to outline why they should be the candidate of choice for London’s business men and women. This was then followed by an hour or so session of audience question and answer.

Lucky London

London is blessed in this election – Boris and Ken blow Brown and Cameron out of the water when it comes to getting the public interested and having something to say. The very fact we call them Boris and Ken says a lot. We would never say Gordon and David so affectionately. These two are not afraid of the press or prone to pandering to big wigs and bullies. They offer a choice and yet aren’t splitting hairs. They are not afraid to look a little rough round the edges and they won’t pretend that they like the Arctic Monkeys or say they saw Jackie Milburn play football just to sound trendy. But the question still remains: who would be the better Mayor for London?

Boris

After an introduction by Nick Ross and an offering from also ran Sian Berry, up stepped Boris. It is impossible not to love this guy. As he took to the stage I looked around the room and every single face I could see in the room had a smile on it. I have never seen this effect on a cross-partisan crowd by a politician ever before. Hell, a leader won’t even get this sort of reaction at his own conference. It is quite extraordinary. The anticipation is palpable and Boris did not fail to deliver. He had them laughing, he had them intrigued – he even had them agreeing and clapping. It seems that Boris is finally managing to master the fine line between comedy figure and serious contender. He has something no politician in the country, possibly the world, has – universal appeal. But now he is more than politics’ answer to Tommy Cooper: he is starting, just starting, to back it up with some serious rhetoric too.

Ken

Ken, of course, has mastered this. While his ability to put a smile on the face of one and all will never threaten to be part of his repertoire, he is still a very charismatic politician and a heavy weight one at that. When needed, he can make a joke with the best of them and no-one can question his depth of radical and thought provoking ideas – even if you cannot bring yourself to agree with them. In the opening cross fire I think Boris probably shaded it. While Ken spoke of the past and got caught up with Boris’s campaign, Boris himself looked to the future and spoke passionately. He was making up as he went along it seemed – and that showed – but that is part of his charm. But then came the question and answer session.

The Real Difference

On issues like the congestion charge, Boris beats the hell out Ken. Not because it was not a good idea, but because Ken has changed it to something of an environment tax. Boris rightly pointed out that the effect of charging the more polluting cars will have the same effect as culling a small herd of cows – yet the car driver is being hit hard. Boris is right to focus this issue on congestion.

On aviation the story is different. Boris started to show his more mad side here, suggesting that Heathrow should be rebuilt in the Thames estuary. On paper a great idea. In reality it is completely bonkers. We have secured many billions of pounds of funding for Crossrail – linking Heathrow with the city. We have just spent billions on building a terminal five. It will cost unimaginable billions to build an airport on the scale of Heathrow in the Thames estuary with the necessary infrastructure. And Boris has no say over this anyway, Mayor or not Mayor.

Still A Way to Boris

And the lies the problem. He is still not the finished article. He is still prone to saying crazy things. A few times he was caught out not knowing his facts. He was not able to tell his position on certain issues such as the London “embassies” in India and China. In fact, on this area he was made to look foolish and as though he had picked all his knowledge up from the Evening Standard. And anyone who thinks that Boris can negotiate a no strike deal with uber-plonker and all round bad-egg, Bob Crow, needs their head examining. It is clear that if he wins this contest he will need a seriously professional team around him. Unfortunately, Ken has already put in place a world class team at TfL and Boris will probably get rid of them.

Boris for Show, Ken for a Pro

I left the event wanting more from Boris – not because he didn’t deliver, but because like all great shows, he leaves you wanting more! But I was also still yet to be convinced, however. When it came to having the full package he is still not on a par with Ken. Ken knew it all, had an answer for everything, and while he split the audience more you felt he had the vision and was the safer pair of hands.

I still think that London would be far better off with Ken at the helm; but there is this cheeky side of me that secretly hopes Boris gets in – whether he can do the job or not he is just so unbelievably captivating. A London with him will be a much more fun place even when it starts to fall apart. Anyway, it’s only the London Mayor with a limited scope for power – how much damage can he do? I have a growing feeling that we might just find out…