 Tories, including the Shadow Home Secretary David Davis, have demanded the resignation of Met police chief Sir Ian Blair, and while Mayor Livingstone has robustly defended Sir Ian, Boris Johnson sits conspicuously on the fence.
He limply tells Telegraph readers: "If Sir Ian Blair is to remain in office, and restore confidence, he needs to show urgently how he proposes to bring back common-sense policing."
By distancing himself from the Tory attack on the police chief, Johnson has added to the internal rumblings about his lacklustre mayoral campaign.
He was recently called in by the Shadow Chancellor George Osborne to discuss how he could boost his profile. Yet all it has achieved so far is Johnson infuriating colleagues by endorsing the Democrat Hillary Clinton for President instead of the natural Tory choice, right-wing Republican Rudy Giuliani.
Johnson was chosen, with clear support from party leader David Cameron, at a time |
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Boris asked
Ian Hislop if he knew the Tory policy on immigration.
“I said ‘no’.
He said, ‘Damn’” |
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when Tory fortunes were at low ebb. They knew they needed a name, someone with character to pit against Labour's charismatic Mayor. They took a risk with a man who may be an astute writer on politics but who has yet to show political nous and possesses no campaigning skills.
ConservativeHome, the website for Conservative activists, reports that it has been approached by a senior source inside Conservative HQ to warn of "worrying drift" within the Johnson campaign. There is said to be disappointment that the Henley MP is "not yet firing on all cylinders". The last news release on Johnson's website is nearly six weeks old.
If being satirised by Ken Livingstone and rubbished by his own party HQ isn't bad enough, it seems the people who helped create Boris the media monster are out to destroy him.
It was the Henley MP's appearances on Have I Got News For You that made Johnson what Livingstone calls "the most famous Tory in London after Margaret Thatcher". But
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Boris's big adventure
