Rumours are rife that Boris Johnson isn't a happy chappy after being forced by the Tory leadership to give up his plum Westminster seat of Henley. 'One term' Boris was quick to react to the edict issued by David Cameron last month by swiftly announcing that he would be returning to his old job at the Telegraph as a columnist on a reputed £250,000 a year.
I'm reliably informed the next bombshell for the Tory leadership won't be Johnson's rumoured return to the BBC's Have I Got News For You as a guest presenter - it's expected to be the newly elected mayor's announcement that he will only serve one term.
In my only appearance on Blogger TV I suggested that the Tory high command might see the London contest as a convenient way of easing BoJo out of the Commons. Maybe I was right?
The Daily Pundit is spot on with this but I suspect it comes from applying elementary political logic rather than inside information.
ReplyDeleteThe facts are that Johnson sees himself as the successor to Cameron, and will therefore seek to return to the Commons at the earliest possible opportunity. Realistically this means the next election but one, in 2014/15, thereby ruling out a second term as mayor which would take him to 2016.
I don't think it's fair to say he never wanted the mayoralty, but it was only ever a means to the end of establishing himself as the most famous Tory ever sold.