Boris: The stakes are high

Mayor Boris is up and running after less than a week in the role. Which is one in the eye for those who thought that it might him a week to work out where City Hall is. And his first policy is to ban booze on public transport.

As policy, it is grossly illiberal. But I’m not going to hark too much on that – have a look at DK if you want the ideological analysis. Be warned/encouraged, he is on sweary form with this one. On a purely practical level, I’m disappointed that I won’t be able to have a drink on a long tube journey anymore. But on the flipside, I will concede that the piss stained tramp on the tube is more pleasant if he isn’t clutching a can of Special Brew. And in his defence, Boris is a Tory, and not a Libertarian. So we should have known that he would have no problem in sacrificing freedom in order to play to the public galleries. This is reality - politicians for the main parties will disappoint, again and again. In fact, it is pretty much the only thing you can rely on with them.

But now, for a lot of people across London, I think the reality is starting to sink in. We have him – Mayor Boris. And with the reality sinking in, the expectations are being raised.

For Tory supporters, his victory is clearly worth celebrating – and I don’t begrudge them those celebrations because they’ve had fuck all else to celebrate since pretty much 1992. On the other side of the fence, the Labourites are whining like little whining bitch kids because their guy lost. Well, fuck them. They should get used to the taste of defeat – judging by the polls, it is going to get a whole lot worse for them.

Yet the extent to which this is actually a Tory victory remains to be seen. The gamble for the Tories was not letting Boris run – had he lost, then the Tories could still have celebrated kicking the arse of Nu Labour in the local elections. No, the gamble for Cameron et al is here and now, and with us for the next four years. There is a lot riding on Boris for the Tories.

Because Boris is the most powerful Tory in the country now. In fact, he is the most powerful Tory since John Major left Downing Street in 1997 to watch some cricket. And rather than having some nice Cameron-esque party poodle in place, the Tories have Boris Johnson. Someone who has no issue with disagreeing with the party line. Someone who can unintentionally attract controversy, just by dint of opening his gob.

Cameron and the Tory high command will be on tenterhooks for the next four years. If Boris does well, then they will have a perfect example for the masses of why the Tories should be in government. If he fucks up, or has some sort of gaffe like declaring war on Liverpool or something, then the Labour party will have a massive stick at the next election to beat Cameron with.

The pressure is on Boris – their crowning achievement of last Thursday’s election is a double-edged sword. And unless Boris is very careful, then Boris could unintentionally make the whole party fall on that sword.