AA GILL
"The received wisdom is that Ken will lose the election for himself, and that the best Boris can do in the meantime is to keep his feet out of his mouth. In short, the less he can behave like the Boris everyone loves, the better - which seems to be an odd strategy. And Boris doesn't look or sound happy with it."
Sunday Times
MAX HASTINGS
"Boris Johnson's high profile as an entertainer makes him known and liked, even loved. Behind all the flummery, he is a shrewd and thoughtful man. He has the brains, commitment and fundamental decency to run London. He would bring gaiety to the mayor's office, and there is plenty of room for it."
The Guardian, August 8 2007
TIM HAMES
"He will not be able to be the Boris he has become. The public and the pundits will demand that he proves that he is 'serious', and this will be the death of him.
A disaster of some form is inevitable. He will either be exposed as having, how shall I put it delicately, 'leafleted' several female London radio newscasters, or something he once wrote insisting that citizens who travel on a London bus are hopeless losers will be unearthed. Or maybe he will turn up in Hackney and declare what fun it is to be in Henley. Perhaps all of these mishaps will occur simultaneously. The media, an industry where (unlike Papua New Guinea) cannibalism is rife, will skewer him mercilessly."
The Times, August 6, 2007
SIMON JENKINS
"Boris Johnson is jokester, iconoclast, maverick, bumbling toff, serious-but-not-too-serious and Tory-only-if-you-insist. He will bring a gale of laughter to next year's London mayoral election, assuming he wins his party nomination. Like his chief opponent, the incumbent Ken Livingstone, he is another thread in the technicolour dreamcoat that is 21st century London."
The Guardian, July 16, 2007
STANLEY JOHNSON Father of Boris
"Truth to tell, I have always been totally puzzled by the charge of 'buffoonery' that is sometimes laid against Boris. It just doesn't stack up against a 20-year output of almost constant high quality. I'm sure I'm prejudiced in his favour but even a father can retain a degree of objectivity, particularly when you have as many offspring as I have (six). I suspect I have read most of Boris's articles over the years as they have appeared in the Telegraph, Spectator or wherever. Yes, they are highly readable. Yes, they are often funny. But that doesn't make them lightweight. Boris, as often as not, hits the nail on the head."
The Spectator, July 2007
ALEXANDER CHANCELLOR
"How can Boris Johnson bear to be so boring? It may be the only way he'll get elected, but the strain must be intolerable."
The Guardian
BEN MCINTYRE
"It is impossible, when tailing Boris Johnson, to escape the impression that one has become trapped in a PG Wodehouse novel. Boris was on his best Bertie Wooster form yesterday, surrounded by an air of calculated vagueness, chaotic hilarity and canny, half-disguised ambition.
Boris is a delight to go campaigning with: irreverent, unpredictable and bursting with self-irony. All qualities that endear him to the voters and terrify the party leadership. He simply cannot resist finding the funny side."
The Times, April 19, 2005
MATTHEW PARRIS
"Cleverer (of course) than he pretends, somewhat less doggedly amiable than he pretends, as learned as he seems, not always as confident as he seems, more easily depressed than he appears, he has a real passion for wronged individuals and the overlooked. He would have been a brave defender of Dreyfus. He can be a good friend in need. However, he sometimes finds arguments in principle, in the abstract, or about ideology rather tiresome. Personally energetic, he can be philosophically lazy."
The Spectator, August 4, 2007
ROD LIDDLE
"Boris has it all; he is that rare thing, a politician who is actively liked, rather than merely tolerated or, more likely, loathed, by the general public - who see in him, much as I did, plenty of grounds for a cross-party alliance...
It is a certain warmth, that vital thing, a sense of humour and the intimation of an intellect too diffuse and rebellious to be corralled by a chief whip or Conservative Central Office."
The Spectator, July 14, 2007
DOREEN LAWRENCE Mother of Stephen Lawrence
"Boris Johnson is not an appropriate person to run a multi-cultural city like London. Think of London, the richness of London, and having someone like him as mayor would destroy the city's unity. He is definitely not the right person to even be thinking to put his name forward.
"Those people that think he is a lovable rogue need to take a good look at themselves, and look at him. I just find his remarks very offensive. I think once people read his views, there is no way he is going to get the support of any people in the black community."
August 3, 2007
"Duplicitous scoundrel"
- Conrad Black
KEN LIVINGSTONE Mayor of London
"This man is to the right of Norman Tebbit; he makes Norman Tebbit look like a cuddly liberal."
the Today Programme, August 2, 2007
SIMON STACPOOLE, Head of BorisWatch
"What is it about this floppy-fringed buffoon - he of the unkempt hair, bumbling prose and general air of utter chaos? How has he commanded such a huge and loyal following among Tories and non-Tories alike? How has he permeated many of the staples of our media world?
Truth is, he's snuck up on the British public like a thief in the night. In this world of trials and tribulations, of huge conflict and political cynicism, the man who Alistair Campbell once described as a 'great, quivering mass of indecision' has shown that you can balance a busy working life while having a jolly good time. In short, he's a thoroughly good egg, a man of supreme integrity - and that's what marks him out from the crowd."
BBC, June 18, 2004
MATTHEW PARRIS
"I am not a Johnson-watcher and do not know him; I just find that whenever one happens to see or listen to this man he appears well-judged, capable, moderate and likeable. He is clearly ambitious, but seems like a human being. He has a directness of speech. Plus (it would be dishonest not to include this, for it will make a difference) he is English. Maybe Mr Johnson is the missing linkage between logic and real life"
The Times, June 3, 2006
POLLY TOYNBEE
"Of course if a monkey can be elected mayor of Hartlepool, Boris Johnson might be elected mayor of London. Jester, toff, self-absorbed sociopath and serial liar, the man could still win. Even Conrad Black called him "a duplicitous scoundrel", and he should know. But it's truly alarming that he who has never run anything except his own image could be in charge of this mighty financial centre - and some of the poorest, neediest boroughs in the country.
The Guardian, July 17, 2007
STEVE RICHARDS
"I am a Boris fan and do not buy the idea that he is merely a comic buffoon... But that does not mean he is remotely qualified to be mayor. The sequence in which he makes his pitch is wrong. To even claim qualification, Johnson should have shown an interest in the politics of London for years, examining closely what can and cannot be done with the powers available to him. He should have shown also a greater interest in administration, of getting things done."
The Independent
BRIAN CATHCART
"Johnson has been a successful editor of the Spectator and is manifestly shrewd, intelligent and articulate, so that when it comes to campaign debates he is well able to cope. But still there is the disquieting knowledge that, as even his best friend is likely to admit, he doesn't do policy. Worrying about how the details of life might be tinkered with to bring benefits to large numbers of people has always been alien to him."
New Statesman
PETER RIDDELL
"Mr Johnson is the opposite of what is needed. His career has been based on the grand gesture, not a command of facts. Mr Johnson is the latest in a long line of Tory cads, among them Bob Boothby and Alan Clark, noted for their unreliability and self-indulgence."
The Times, August 3, 2007
FIRST POSTED AUGUST 14, 2007
