Boris's clown disguise won't get my vote

"I have prejudged this group," he admitted, "on the basis of press reports about the greater likelihood of being mugged by young black males." A Rightwinger who extols personal responsibility, he nonetheless blamed his prejudices on the media.

It is staggering that Londoners should be asked to intervene in youth crime by a fat sissy who gets frightened just by seeing a few "piccaninnies". That's Boris's term for black children, not mine. Yes, he makes racially-based slurs about children. It's all part of his "colourful" outspoken character.

He likes to indulge his pals in a spot of baiting too. While he was editor of The Spectator, the magazine ran a column by Taki describing black people as "thugs" who were "breeding like flies". Boris pleaded ignorance, being on holiday at the time. But the article remained on The Spectator website for six weeks, and Taki kept his job.

With his bumbling manner and bag lady's hairstyle, Boris tries to style himself as a maverick champion of free speech but he's not even-handed with his insults. How often does he crack gags about Jews, WASPs or even Asians? Never. It's black people that he has a problem with. Maybe he's projecting his anxiety about being a blanched and bloated near-albino.

He isn't remotely fit to be mayor. If he had any real calibre, why didn't David Cameron select him for the shadow cabinet? But after two recent by-election defeats, the Conservatives are again playing to the party's Right wing.

Cameron is making the usual boring Tory noises about crime, while offering no practical solutions, and Boris - the poster boy of the Right - has started his campaign with similar platitudes.

The Conservative Party's decision to make him its candidate shows they really don't understand London. Boris's comments about race will already have alienated many, if not most, of the 40 per cent of Londoners who aren't white; though I suspect many white Londoners will also be disturbed by his attitude.

Having failed to win the contest twice with the technocratic Steven Norris as candidate, the Tories have this time opted for a showman. But while Boris's loudmouthed clown act plays well in the shire towns of middle England, my guess is there's not a big market for it in the capital.

Choosing him as a candidate for mayor is a stunning miscalculation. The wide-ranging appeal that is essential to winning the contest is something Boris never had - nor ever will.