The Boris Johnson roadshow
Updated on 22 August 2008
Alex Thomson is not disappointed by the style and substance of the London mayor's press conference in Beijing.
Never having been a political correspondent, I've never attended a Boris Johnson press conference. Seasoned observers of these shows - for that is what they are - said I would not be disappointed.
They were right. Boris does put on an extraordinary display which, of course, breaks every single rule drummed into press officers when they are trained at press officer college or wherever they go.
The faux-dishevelled and faux-shambolic approach is, of course, the perfect foil. He comes over like that, yet his team fought one of the most tactically astute election campaigns in modern British history.
So you should not be fooled. But of course we all are, sort of. And in part because we want to be. Because Boris Johnson is, simply, different.
So there he is yesterday with Chinese reporters slack-jawed in astonishment. He opened a cycle track this week but he cannot remember where (Redbridge). It doesn't matter. In fact we almost want him not to remember. We yearn for him to be un-smooth, not word-perfect, messy.
He opened a cycle track this week but he cannot remember where (Redbridge). It doesn't matter.
Why - because ultimately we are. It is human. And in the post Blair world where spin was substance we crave the human and - for good or ill - Boris is certainly that.
But he's also astute. I've never heard a political give more terse answers. He rarely speaks for more than 20 seconds. And yet when asked for a succinct answer (surely a pointless request) he barks back:
"Why - why can't I give a long answer? I mean, you know, er, umf, hang on - oi - that's well, erm, that's a bit of a cheek isn't it?"
Quite brilliant in its way, because with answers that short he doesn't really ever answer anything. It is lite ent - pure fluff. Charming, endearing - but ultimately quite without any substance.
Except, at the end when called upon to criticise the Chinese governments handling of the games, he actually answers the question. Knowing he will cause offence. But he simply cannot resist being honest and simply doing what no other politician from the UK has done - simply admit that in some aspects the Chinese running of the games has been marginally less than perfect.
For Gordon Brown - a tough act to follow.
