Boris starts his own fanzine in PR war

When Boris Johnson launched his campaign to wrest the London mayoralty off Ken Livingstone, he vowed that if he wins in May he will put a halt to the publication of The Londoner, a newsletter delivered free to homes in the capital, packed with photos of the mayor and generally reckoned to be little more than a Livingstone fanzine, financed by rate-payers.

At a meeting at the Dorchester hotel in January, Johnson said: "As soon as I get in I will introduce proper accountability. I will get rid of the ludicrous Londoner free sheet, the Pyongyang-style newspaper that brings us news of the mayor's achievements in buying more bendy buses."

So what is the Boris for Mayor campaign doing funding The GREATER Londoner which fell through Londoners' letterboxes this weekend? A four-page colour news sheet, it is packed with photos of Boris "meeting Londoners to discuss his crime strategy", "explaining the Payback Scheme", "promising it's time to stand up to the tube union bosses", and generally doing a good impression of North Korea's beloved leader, Kim Jong-il (sorry, Boris, but you brought up Pyongyang).

On the other hand, all those grinning mugshots seem to be doing the trick. A YouGov poll published today gives Johnson 49 per cent against 37 per cent for Livingstone. Among women, he does even better - 54 per cent to 34 per cent.