Johnson popular as potential prime minister
LONDON mayor Boris Johnson was campaigning on city streets days before Britain’s general election when a young woman, thrilled to meet this political celebrity, loudly hailed him as “prime minister-to-be”.
Johnson, standing to be a Conservative MP, backing party leader David Cameron to win a second term as prime minister, scuttled off without comment.
Moments later, he entered a butcher’s shop to hand out leaflets and shake hands, and faced the same question: “Are you going to be our next prime minister, Boris?” a shop worker asked.
Again, Johnson left the question unanswered. The scene encapsulated his position in the election run-up.
Popular and openly discussed as a potential prime minister, he must show unswerving support for Cameron to avoid charges of disloyalty that could hurt his chances.
Johnson, whose comic wit and dishevelled charm belie steely ambition, has batted away speculation about his ambitions for years, but even Cameron last month named him as a possible successor, along with ministers George Osborne and Theresa May.
How soon a vacancy arises depends on the outcome of tomorrow’s election. Polls suggest it is highly uncertain.
If Cameron remains prime minister of a coalition government, his position as party leader will not be very secure, and he has said he would not seek a third term.
So a leadership contest would be inevitable well before the next election in 2020.
If opposition leader Ed Miliband becomes prime minister, Cameron would likely step down as Conservative leader.
Whoever succeeds him will become leader of the opposition and, if the Conservatives win the next election, prime minister.
Either way, Johnson will finally have to show his hand.
The clearest hint that he would like the top job came in a 2013 documentary, when he used a rugby metaphor: “If the ball came loose from the back of the scrum, which it won’t of course, it would be a great, great thing to have a crack at.”
Since then, he has refused to answer the question, and a spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.
But is a man whose humour and likeably shambolic persona have helped him shrug off past crises fit to lead Britain?
Some of the voters he met when campaigning in north London certainly thought so.
Kelly Isaac, the man in the butcher’s shop, said: “He’s honest, he’s charismatic. He’s what a politician should be, full of enthusiasm.”
Known to all by his first name and easy to recognise with his tousled mop of blond hair, Johnson is received on the campaign trail more like a TV star than a politician, with people crowding around to pose for selfies with him.
Unlike Cameron, his contemporary at exclusive private school Eton and elite Oxford University, Johnson does not downplay his privileged upbringing to broaden his appeal.
His comic image as a Latinspouting upper-class eccentric is key to his success.
But the campaign has not been all plain sailing for him.
A TV clash with Miliband generated excitement as a potential foretaste of things to come in the House of Commons, but some fellow Tories were unimpressed.
Tim Montgomerie, an influential party figure, tweeted: “Tory MPs somewhat down on [Johnson’s] performance, one telling me: If he wants top job he needs more precision, less bluster.”
A YouGov poll in March found that 28% of people felt he should become party leader when Cameron steps down, against 13% for May and 8% for Osborne. – Reuters