Go forward together to sunlit uplands and heartily endorse Boris

Cllr Nick Botterill's speech at the Council Meeting last night during the debate on the Mayor of London

I have known Boris for almost 30 years now and he is without doubt a class act. Ken Livingstone was not the first person to underestimate Boris; to label him as not serious and when that backfired to resort to cheap shots by saying he would make a mess of things; and then when duly defeated by Boris retreated into the gutter with smear and innuendo.

It’s ironic that as Boris’ stature has developed (reinforced by his record of success in London) and he grows taller, Ken Livingstone by contrast has plumbed the depths and has shrunk further. Putting it in a family context, Ken has metamorphosed from the happy uncle, cheeky chappy (who the kids want to play with) to the embarrassing cussed, sulky old granddad who everybody avoids.

It is a given in politics that you can never turn the clock back – but THAT is precisely what Livingstone wants to do. He thinks he can get away with presenting a range of inconsistencies and “impossible to deliver” policies to the voters and they will just meekly accept the bits they like and not worry too much about the obvious consequences which Livingstone fails to mention.

“I will cut your fares” – he says - but he fails to also say “I will also raise the taxes which everyone pays by much more – just like I did last time”

He preaches tolerance and inclusion, in order to build up a rainbow coalition, but he then lends his support to a range of groups including dodgy clerics who preach hatred and incite violence.

He accuses ordinary people of being crooks without a shred of evidence knowing that they can’t sue him. Yet when in office he employed some cronies of the worst sort and filled whole departments and agencies with these overpaid incompetent, sidekicks who wasted money on a phenomenal scale. In fact many things he touched simply turned to dust.

This, I would remind members, was in a period of financial boom when the consequences of financial incontinence were not grave. Fast forwarded to today’s situation such inept management could bust London. Londoners of all types showed in 2008 that they had enough of Livingstone in a thrilling victory which laid bare Labour’s record in office in London and was a precursor of the their fate nationally.

There is a chance this year that the ghost really will be laid to rest. Let us therefore go forward together to sunlit uplands and heartily endorse Boris’ reelection.