Boris Sells Himself To London

Journalistic dream Boris Johnson just unseated an 8-yr mayoral incumbent too closely connected with the failing national government of the day.  I was pleased myself to shake his hand on the hustings a few weeks ago one Saturday morning in London’s fantastic Borough Market and discuss the merits of a delicious £1 creme caramel pot.

During an interview with Evan Davis, who unfortunately seemed to jettison his normal quality style by only allowing two words of an answer before trying to batter his victim, at the end of which he readily admitted to having had a drink as the hours drew ever smaller, mentioned that he’d learned two vital things about getting a political message across.  This was in the context of Boris being seen as a maverick, gifted with superbly articulate speech and regular witticism.

1) You’ve got to “repeat your message” over and over, be “undeviating” from that, “blast away and away” until the message is lodged between the eyeballs.

2) Once you feel that your message is indeed across, then you can tell jokes “a little bit”.