Boris the Entertainer? · Issue 869

Tim Hewish analyses Boris’ victory speech and finds it not just interesting, but actually rather honest from a man who people dub a clown

So now we know – Boris is the new Mayor of London by a margin of 139,772 votes. To a mixed applause within City Hall Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson stepped forward, having shook the out-going Ken’s hand, and took to the podium to deliver his victory address.

What were we expecting from the man with “that floppy hair and sodding bicycle,” to quote one not so amused Guardian polemicist? He shuffled around in his inner jacket pocket striving for his victory speech and perhaps scrunching up his words of defeat in the process.

The expectation that a load of a piffle coupled with a number of Boris witticisms would fall out of his mouth never really came into being. Yes he did congratulate the ‘knocker-uppers’ of the Conservative supporters, which could have been misconstrued; however, he trundled on prefering to congratulate the other two men in this ‘strange triumvirate.’

He gave his approval to Brian Paddick, the Lib Dem candidate, heaping the praise of ‘common-sense’ and ‘decency’ upon him and wished he would work with Paddick in the future on police matters.

Now turning to Ken, journalists felt Boris would produce a tirade of attacks ranging from bendy buses to Ken’s newt-like resemblance; however in an out-of character approach he used a more mild demeanour in which to describe Mr. Livingstone.

He crafted his words extremely carefully, but they felt somewhat genuine in delivery by referring to Ken as a ‘very considerable public servant and distinguished leader.’

Boris went further to the astonishment of the Press, as this was no more Boris the Bumbling Buffoon, more like a budding Statesman carving out the tone on which to set his precedent.

Ken was now the man ‘who shaped the office of Mayor’ and who possessed ‘sheer exuberent nerve to stick it to his enemies,’ without forgetting sly remarks about those enemies in New Labour.

The biggest praise he bestowed on Livingstone was the acknowledgement that Boris wanted London to benefit from Ken’s ‘transparent love of London,’ this sort of rhetoric is usually unseen in a race viewed as an old-school battle between Tory and Labour.

If you were looking for a warrior’s speech in his final sections you would be adrift for examples with Boris preferring to state: “I do not for one minute believe that this election shows that London has transformed over-night into a Conservative city.” This realistic approach is refreshing in a political climate that has been branded out-of-touch with the public; telling it how it is was certainly a generous admission by politicans often devoid of clear utterences.

Boris’s unrivaled command for the English language did shine through on occasion as he ‘thanked the vast multitude that voted against me’ and for those who did noted “I know there will be many of whom whose pencils hovered for an instant before putting an X in my box,’ such honesty twinned with sharp humour is a distant reality for people in public office.

Despite what I firmly believe was a speech of sheer quality and candor, the knives are already being sharpened ready to attack Boris, subsequently his first 100 days in power will be crutial.

With headlines like ‘It was the Standard wot won it,’ in light of the paper’s vigour in which it went after Ken and thus supposedly handed Boris victory, he has to prove his worth boldly and unashamadly.

With a meeting with New York Mayor Mr. Bloomberg on the horizon, this will allow Boris insights into how a Republican won election and later re-election in an overtly liberal minded city, is much akin to his own finely balanced position as a centre-right Mayor in a London that is positively cosmopolitian.

Yes, London will be a ‘laboratory for the Conservative agenda, to test the waters of public opinion on certain policies,’ but Boris will need to imprint his own stamp of authority into the minds of Londoners.

The Mayor’s Fund for London is a start in the right direction to help out the disadvantaged and disillusioned youth and so are policies to reduce crime and public nuisance on the streets, tubes and buses of London.

A ban on the consumption of alcohol on public transport implemented last week will no doubt be one of many similar ideas.

Certain sections of the media may always judge him on his TV antics or slip-ups in his journalistic utterences; however, from now on, Boris’s evaluations will be on what he practically does for London, not on his thoughts of Liverpudians or supposed piccaninnies.

Boris is no longer the court jester, but time will tell if he is more like the king who presides over the court or the clown prince.