Boris should steer clear of Maggie and Rudy

A photo with these two giants is not enough to make Johnson mayor, says donald malcolm

For Boris Johnson, it's surely the photo opportunity to die for - flanked by Lady Thatcher and Rudy Giuliani just a few days before London's Tories make their decision on who will be their candidate for Mayor of London. The most successful Conservative leader in British post-war history on the one hand, and the world's most famous conservative city mayor on the other.

When it comes to paying homage to Thatcher, Johnson is a dab hand. Witness the breathless blog on his website recording a visit to the Commons by the former Prime Minister in late 2004: "Her guests were held in thrall and she was lost in concentrated discussion...

"As a distraction to those in the coffee area, she would occasionally emphasise a point by tapping on her ivory knees peeping out from her outfit and stretch out her slender calves

For all his bumbling charm, Boris appears too right-wing; the capital will never elect an ultra- conservative mayor

as an afterthought. We were mesmerised by this moment of living history in Parliament."

Giuliani may not be able to match Maggie for slender calves, but he offers the Tory MP a chance to be associated with a giant among city bosses. He rallied New Yorkers in the aftermath of 9/11, making him a national hero - the basis for his run for the Republican presidential nomination. All Boris has to do is turn up on September 19 for the Margaret Thatcher Atlantic Bridge lecture to be delivered by Giuliani. What could be better?

The truth is, it would be a catastrophe - and the reasons why prove the weakness of Boris Johnson's candidature for Mayor of London. However many ardent fans of Maggie Thatcher there still may be behind London's leafier Georgian terraces, the capital is never going to elect an ultra-conservative mayor.

And Boris, for all his bumbling charm, comes across as too right-wing. It's not just the admiration for Mrs T: recent claims that Boris is insensitive on issues of race are uncomfortably close to the bone.

By digging up old Daily Telegraph and