Looking Back at London’s Mayors: Boris Johnson

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson isn’t exactly a household name. The preferred Boris Johnson is however – across the country, for better and for much worse. Londoners liked him as Mayor, but Brexit damaged him irrevocably    in our eyes. He’s gone from Boris the Brilliant Buffoon to Boris the Betrayer.

His popularity with the public certainly won him his campaign. The brilliant persona of bumbling Boris on Have I Got News For You captured Britain. We loved him because he was a laugh. Since then, the blinkers have come off Londoner’s eyes to reveal an incredibly astute, devious, but still successful Mayor and politician.

Boris’s aims as Mayor were to make public transport safer, reduce youth crime and replace bendy buses with new Routemasters. Let’s see how much of that he managed, and what else he got up to, as our second London Mayor.

Controversies

Bigotry

Boris was accused of bigotry and racism during the election, which he denied. He actually went against Tory policy to support earned amnesty for illegal immigrants. Unfortunately, the BNP asked their voters to give Boris their second preference… Boris had to condemn them publicly.

Pay

BJ was quick to complain about the Mayor’s £140K salary. To prevent starvation, he kept his Telegraph column, boosting his annual income by an extra £250K.

His team vehemently objected and made him promise to donate a fifth of his newspaper fee to charity. Boris vehemently objected back and in the end, he didn’t do it. He went on to call his £250K Telegraph salary ‘chicken-feed’ – a salary ten times the average British worker’s wage.

Despite his combined 390K income and his staunch cyclist stance, he managed to rack up nearly £5000 of taxi claims in his first year, with a startling £99 cab fair from Westminster into the City taking the utter piss.

Friends

There were plenty of instances of Boris supporting friends in high places that he shouldn’t. He stayed supportive of Rupert Murdoch during hacking scandals and bankers during the financial crisis. He used media contacts to ensure positive press and was accused of giving the heads up to a fellow MP about his upcoming arrest. Boris also gave jobs to his cronies, like the ‘independent’ Forensic Audit Panel he created made up of his political allies.

He didn’t make any friends by dispatching many of Ken’s cabinet upon taking the helm. Soon after, three of those he’d kept or hired resigned as well.

Add to all this the ‘scandal’ of his student drug use, an affair and love-child, and accusations of hiding London dangerous pollution levels for years and we can see it wasn’t plain sailing for Boris.

Legacy

So what did he achieve other than gaffes in his not one, but two term reign? And did he accomplish those promises made at the very beginning?

Banning alcohol on public transport

This was his first policy to combat anti-social yoofs and was one of his more contentious. After all, it’s not just young Londoners that love a drink on the train after a long day. Making any form of alcohol intake illegal seemed daring at the time: now, not so much.

The idea backfired to begin with. Most of us spent the last night drinking on the tube for the final (ha!) time, wondering if the world was changing for the worse. As it turns out, no one much noticed and a few never changed their habits. It’s all a distant memory now, not just for us but those in power: there appear to be no follow-up results recorded as to what the ban achieved, if anything. As far as I can see, it’s likely lowered littering and bad behaviour somewhat, but it’s as yet untested.

Ticket Office Closure

Johnson promised that Livingstone’s threat of closing ticket offices in wake of the automated Oyster cards wouldn’t happen. He blocked the proposal and staff rejoiced, as well as tourists and long-time commuters. In 2013, TfL announced all Underground ticket offices would close by 2015. Not a great move by Johnson, who upped transport fees by 50% in the meantime.

Policing

Johnson saw the Met Police through the resignation of Ian Blair and the Ian Tomlinson death controversy. He was criticised for remaining on holiday when the 2011 riots broke out – he didn’t address Londoners until 60 hours after fighting erupted. Overall, crime in the capital fell during Boris’s time. Unfortunately (and despite his claims) serious youth crime increased. Whoops…

Undoing Ken

Johnson didn’t change much in the way of the role, but he definitely undid some of his predecessor’s doings. He ceased oil deals with Venezuela, scrapped both west London congestion charge and higher CC for 4x4s and he scrapped biannual black cab inspections (which he later reinstated).

Routemasters

So he made good on this pre-election promise, and London was oh so grateful. We bloody loved those Routemasters and the new ones are greener, quieter and much more glam. A big thumbs up to BJ for that one.

Boris Bikes

This is the policy he’ll be remembered for: ironic given it was first suggested in Livingstone’s era and Boris borrowed the idea for his own. The scheme has been an incredible success, but it came at a significant financial loss. Problem was, he’d made bikes far more available but the roads no safer for cyclists. Luckily, he had a serious plan up his sleeve.

Cycle Superhighway

It’s one of his last policies but will be a lasting legacy. The newly opened highway was designed to keep cyclists safe and give them more rights on their own roads. Having used it, I can say with certainty I feel more confident and more safe on London roads. It’s an absolute delight to see the masses of cyclists as they commute to work – the drivers may hate it but I give this one a big Boris thumbs up.

If you enjoyed our look at Boris, check out our look at Ken Livingstone.

The post Looking Back at London’s Mayors: Boris Johnson appeared first on Felix Magazine.