We expected chaos. We expected riots.The one thing we didn't expect, in fact, was that it wouldn't actually change a single thing. But, 15 months, into his reign, that seems to be the critics' dominant narrative: Boris Johnson is the mayor who does nothing.
Image courtesy of Scorpions and Centaurs under a Creative Commons Attribution licence.
The FT's Philip Stephens was the first to put it into words a few weeks back, when he complained that the Mayor's vision for London was "as fuzzy as it was on the day of the election." Then ConservativeHome's Stephan Shakespeare joined the chorus, arguing that - splendid chap though he may be - Boris has "no notable achievement, no sense that anything important will change, no grip." Just a few days ago, Time Out's Peter Watts suggested that the reason everyone had got so excited by the abolition of the bendy buses was because it was "a rare example of the new Mayor of London actually doing something."
Last week a gaggle of Assembly Members went so far as to pass a motion under the adorably silly heading "Where's the beef," which demanded Boris actually explain what the hell he's playing at. ("There is a danger," concluded John Biggs AM, "that a Mayor who is a media figure and likes to be admired won’t risk upsetting some people by picking the fights that need a heavyweight champion in the ring for London." No shit.)
A quick flick through the list of mayoral achievements goes some way to explaining where this reputation came from. Boris's policies break down rather neatly into the negative (scrapping Livingstone initiatives like the Thames Gateway Bridge or the congestion charge extension) and the tabloid-appeasing (banning drinking on the tube, banging on about knife crime). The one exception is that blasted bendy bus ban, which aims rather higher, and manages to be both negative and tabloid appeasing.
Does this matter? One strain of conservative thought, after all, says that the best reason to acquire power is to stop anyone else using it. (On this front, Will Hutton notes, Boris has been absolutely first class.) But whether or not this works nationally, it's not entirely suited - to put it mildly - to running a city with disfunctional policing, creaking transport and eye wateringly expensive housing.
The mayoralty seems to function best as a bully-pulpit, a platform from which to cajole government and business into investing in London. Ken Livingstone, for all his flaws, instinctively understood this. He couldn't deliver everything he promised; but the things he did deliver came about through sheer force of personality.
Boris has shown little interest in taking this approach. In fact, he's shown little interest in anything, but using the mayoralty as a platform from which to promote brand Boris. So a year in, we find ourselves wondering: what, exactly, is Boris Johnson for?
