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Tories use London takeover as 'dry run' for government
Paul Waugh, Deputy Political Editor09.05.08
David Cameron is using Boris Johnson's takeover of City Hall as a "dry run" for his own first 100 days in government, the Standard has been told.
Former think tank boss Nicholas Boles has been installed by the Tory leader as the Mayor's interim chief of staff to help him settle in, implement campaign pledges and change personnel.
But Mr Boles, 42, has another, lesser-known day job - helping shadow cabinet office minister Francis Maude prepare the Conservatives for office after the next election.
The experience of transforming City Hall's Labour-dominated administration into a Tory one will prove invaluable, party insiders say.
Mr Maude has spent months on the party's plans for a smooth transition from a Brown government to a Cameron one. He has been working on improving contacts with civil servants in a bid to avoid the problems met by Tony Blair in 1997.
Mr Cameron said today that Mr Blair had prepared to give the Bank of England independence, but did not have a detailed programme ready for school or health reform that could be enacted in his first term and took until his third term finally to wake up to the need for reform.
"The great failing of Tony Blair's premiership was that he didn't have enough of a plan of what to do before he took office," he said.
Senior figures at Conservative Campaigns HQ expressed concern late last year that a poor start to the Johnson mayoralty could tarnish the party's national image.
Mr Boles, the former head of Policy Exchange and once a mayoral contender himself, was drafted in with Australian campaigns expert Lynton Crosby to inject vigour into the operation.
Mr Boles is the prospective Tory candidate for the safe seat of Grantham and Stamford and is almost certain to be promoted into a ministerial job in the event of a Cameron victory.
The Boris revolution has allowed the Cameron high command to conduct a live experiment in assuming power.
Central to the sense of momentum were this week's photocalls, from Mr Johnson appearing with wife Marina at a Sikh festival to his arrival at his office on his bicycle.
Samantha Cameron is likely to be used as effectively should her husband become prime minister, while the Cameron bicycle is almost certain to make guest star appearances too.
