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IN a now legendary Guardian article on mayoral election day, Boris Johnson's sternest critics predicted what it would be like "if this bigoted, lying, Old Etonian buffoon got his hands on our diverse and liberal capital".
According to writer Bonnie Greer, it would mark the "ultimate triumph of the Kensington and Chelsea gulag". Arabella Weir, an actor, promised to "go on hunger strike and throw myself under the next horse at Ascot... and then I'll move out of London". The author Blake Morrison said: "I'm about to go to Australia and if Boris gets in, maybe I'll stay there."
Today, six months since Johnson took office, Ms Weir is fit and well and still living in Crouch End. Mr Morrison came back from Australia. And though various anti-Boris bloggers keep the Dave Spart flame burning, more intelligent critics concede that the sky has not yet fallen.
Len Duvall, Labour leader on the London Assembly, admits: "Politics isn't fun, but to an extent Boris makes it fun." Johnson has struck an optimistic and liberal note, raising the London living wage, keeping half-price bus travel for those on income support and preserving the full roster of Ken's ethnic festivals. Like the pound, the Boris gaffe index has fallen to record lows.
One of Johnson's deputy mayors, Ian Clement, says: "He's a unifying mayor. Never again will we pick off individual interest groups and communities. There is no class war, no baggage, no side."
He's swiftly ticking off his campaign commitments. The GLA's part of the council tax has been frozen. Yet these are relatively small-bore things. And for a mayoralty now six months old, its fundamental shape is fascinatingly vague.
"I don't think there has yet been a series of substantial announcements that add up to a picture of Boris's London," says the London School of Economics' Tony Travers. Duvall says: "He's been a bit slow getting out of the starting gates. I'm getting mixed messages [on policy]."
On the stump, Boris constantly campaigned for "change" and "fresh thinking". But while his sunny outlook is a key to his appeal, some of his more committed political supporters claim that a still overwhelmingly Ken-era City Hall machine is exploiting that same ecumenical good nature to frustrate change. "I think he's done pretty well because the system was set up by Ken and it's very hard," said an authoritative figure close to Johnson. "But I do think he's being institutionalised. The building and the system are set up to do this to you.
"For example, he was passionately against [most] skyscrapers during the campaign, and now he's backing them." (After initially vetoing three new towers at Waterloo, Johnson reversed himself.) "He's been leant on without a doubt."
At the scandal-hit London Development Agency, Johnson has been told by officials that he can change only £20 million of its £400 million spend this year, and only £50 million in 2009/10. Although the chief executive, Manny Lewis, has gone, and the agency is being restructured, several top figures who presided over the scandals remain, above all Lewis's deputy, Sarah Ebanja, who has also now been handed the key mayoral priority role of group director for youth.
The Standard has learned that only months before moving to the LDA, in 2006, Ebanja was chief fundraiser for the Bernie Grant Arts Centre in Tottenham, which received nearly £3 million in LDA funding after she arrived at the agency (though the decision to fund it was taken before she joined).
A report by the London Assembly's economic development committee found "serious issues" with the centre and five other projects that made it "impossible to judge why the projects were funded and what the LDA got for its money". Ebanja appeared on TV to attack the report and defend the projects on the LDA's behalf without declaring her previous interest.
During the campaign Boris repeatedly criticised Livingstone for employing "more press officers than the Prime Minister", and promised to cut them. In fact, he still employs exactly the same number at TfL (27) and in his own personal press office (15), though there has been a reduction at the LDA. Johnson's deputy chief press officer was Livingstone's personal Labour Party PR during his 2004 reelection campaign.
One adviser admitted Boris had been "slightly pushed around" by the bureaucracy over his bid to slim the organisation. "Employment law is a cottage industry at City Hall," he said. "You can't get rid of anyone, however useless."
The biggest challenges, however, are elsewhere. One mayoral aide said: "The two big problems on our issues are [Peter] Hendy [head of TfL] and [Neale] Coleman [the Mayor's Olympic adviser]," top-level figures originally appointed by Livingstone. "We know transport is a biggie and we can't get round it with Hendy." Coleman, who is widely respected across the political spectrum, and Hendy, who is not, were kept because of their expertise and because Johnson felt he needed continuity in their key policy areas. However, some aides feel this is the problem.
On the Olympics, Coleman's territory, little progress is being made in Boris's original ambition to save money on the sporting venues and divert funds to legacy. No legacy plan has yet been produced, venues and facilities seem largely unchanged and the proportion of their cost likely to be borne by the taxpayer is rising sharply. Little has been seen of any strategy to promote grassroots sport.
On transport, according to leaked emails, during the election Hendy discussed "refuting Boris's transport ideas" with Livingstone's chief of staff; he is now in charge of implementing Boris's ideas. Since the election, he has repeatedly attempted to undermine Johnson's transport adviser, Kulveer Ranger. "The whole [TfL] machine constantly fights Kulveer," said one aide. "They say they'll do things and they don't do them. They have this £1 billion funding gap but if they were run more efficiently, they'd probably have a surplus."
TfL has misled the Mayor in an attempt to keep Livingstone's controversial western extension of the congestion charge, claiming a net revenue loss from scrapping it of £70 million a year - TfL documents and Assembly answers make clear this is a gross exaggeration. There are signs of a similar operation over replacing bendy buses. Some promises that should have been quite easy to keep, such as reinstating the "tidal flow" in the Blackwall Tunnel, have not happened.
Boris's Lone Ranger is up against TfL's battalions with "just an assistant and a PA, the same as the culture adviser", says one person. "Ken had business managers to drive through his policies with the likes of TfL. They went because they were political but because we're cost-conscious we haven't replaced them. We need our own delivery unit, it's the only way you get things done."
Sources close to Johnson say he is happy with Hendy's performance and thinks him committed to implementing his policies. But few others around the Mayor agree. "I think [Boris] is far, far too reliant on TfL," says one person close to him. "They tell him something is right and he believes it but they haven't got his best interests at heart."
Another said: "When you get him in front of you, it's fine, but the officials crowd his diary and try to dominate. He needs to realise these are not really civil servants, they are people with a political slant which is not the same as his."
Yet in the War for Johnson's Ear, the forces of Livingstonite conservatism by no means always prevail. Some of TfL's most cherished extravagances, such as the £500 million Thames Gateway bridge, were cancelled last week, despite lobbying from Hendy - though others remain, and most of the schemes reportedly "axed" were never in the budget anyway. TfL is making a show of dieting - though its promised savings of £2.4 billion are spread over eight years.
A decision on the western extension is still awaited. "If Boris doesn't scrap it, it'll be a massive disappointment to the residents of Hammersmith and Fulham," says Stephen Greenhalgh, Tory leader of the local council. "But when I met him at the party conference, that wasn't the impression I got."
Last month came Johnson's effective sacking of the Met Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, an act of great steel which Travers says gave the mayoralty a "huge boost" in confidence and power over its key priority area, crime. Here, though, any progress will necessarily be long-term.
And only last week, there was widespread relief among Johnson allies at the choice of an outsider, Barnet's Leo Boland, to be the new GLA chief executive, rather than an internal, Livingstone-era candidate.
Greenhalgh also took over a long-standing Labour authority. "It was very hard," he says. "You have to be very single-minded about your priorities and you have to have people you can work with. I think there are some very promising signs but if I had a criticism, I'd ask if TfL is being run the way he wants it."
Greenhalgh eventually forced out one of his top managers and thinks Hendy should go, too, accusing him of having a "closed mind". But, like Travers and Duvall, he stresses the overriding need for a mayoral narrative. "You can't sack everyone," he says. "You have to have a motivating vision, a clear idea of how you take people with you."
It's no surprise that Boris's mayoralty is still in flux. It arguably began not in May at all but in late August, after a series of failed appointees departed and a new consigliere, Simon Milton, brought stability. Clement says: "It took Ken time [to develop a vision] as well."
"Boris is not going to get away with charm alone in this job, and he knows it," says Len Duvall. "He is struggling with the detail but he will master it. He's intellectually capable. But he's going to learn that to do things, he's going to have to come into conflict."
Over the next few months, we may see Boris's "motivating vision", not just for transport and crime but for London's economy, now a far different challenge from what it was in May. When Londoners start to lose their jobs and homes, that will test sunny optimism to its limits.
THOSE CAMPAIGN PROMISES IN FULL
Delivered
Alcohol ban on the Tube; cancellation of Ken Livingstone's Venezuela oil deal; cancellation of £25 gas-guzzler charge; free travel for war veterans; reduction in taxi maintenance inspections; crime mapping website; saving Tube station ticket offices; allowing motorbikes in bus lanes; closure of the Mayor's official newspaper The Londoner; publishing all GLA payments above £1,000 and advisers' interests online; live CCTV trial on buses.
In progress
An extra 440 PCSOs on buses (by June 2009); new Routemaster (2012); scrapping bendy buses (2009-2015); Oystercards on national rail (by 2009); restructuring LDA; express buses in suburbs; 24-hour freedom pass.
Still awaited
Rephasing traffic lights; abolishing tidal flow in Blackwall Tunnel; "Velib" bike hire scheme; cycle superhighways; easing payment of the congestion charge; funding for grassroots and youth sport; reducing police red tape; running Tubes later at weekends; £60 million to renovate empty properties; a "Mayor's Fund" to help the poor, 50 extra Transport Police officers, more rape crisis centres.
In doubt
Scrapping of western extension to the congestion charge*; opposition to "inappropriate" tall buildings which are "opposed by local people"; improvements to the Tube**; cost reductions/securing legacy on Olympics; efficiencies at the GLA; no-strike deal on the Tube.
* During his campaign Johnson promised to "get rid of" the western extension but has since expressed support for merely modifying it.
**A massive funding shortfall now threatens Tube upgrades unless TfL makes significant efficiencies.
Longer-term promises
Tackle teenage knife crime; reduce overall crime by "more than 20 per cent" over mayoral term; build 50,000 affordable houses by 2011; boost recycling.
Reader views (15)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
John G,London UK if you check you will find my surname is spelt with an e and not a y. As for being a tory able to do Joined up thinking I reckon you should contact City Hall London Mayor could do with your services.
What does rephasing traffic light actually mean?
After all if one direction gets extra green the another will get extra red and what happens to pedestrians who want to cross the road.
As for the funding of the tube upgrade well the announcements by the tories of cutting Labour spending commitments makes tube upgrades even less likely.
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex
"Boris is just crap, really"
Well, I'd say most of his election promises were crap, if he doesn't implement most of them (scrapping bendies, new routemaster, scrapping western extension) it would be a GOOD thing.
The sad thing is the things he's NOT doing that have been planned for years and years, cross river tram, extra river crossing, objection to desalination plant etc...
- Prj45, London
Boris is just crap, really.
- Simon, London
errmm Melvyn Windybark I am a tory and i went to a state "normal" school and I make a good living out of joined up thinking so I guess your remarks are, as usual with the left, to be taken as looney....
- John G, London UK
Andrew - What is it with you and inverted commas?
Quote: ...opposition to "inappropriate" tall buildings which are "opposed by local people".
The first time you used them was correct - it is a subjective opinion as to whether the buildings are appropriate.
But the second time was incorrect. It is a statement of fact that they are opposed by local people, irrespective of whether it is a minority or a majority of them. You should not enclose this in inverted commas. It is like writing: Boris Johnson was "elected Mayor of London" in May. It is a fact and not an opinion.
I think you need to read a good style book to learn more. Guardian Books published a useful one a few years ago. You could buy that one...
- A Casual Observer, London, UK
Is it any wonder Boris is not making any progress London wide??? City Hall is a stagnating mess that he has inherited and seems powerless to change. City Hall suffers from overstaffing, the retention of useless employees who have progressed through their intimate relationships with senior managers, inexcuseable high costs not least from temporary staff who have been employed via agencies for years as opposed to weeks and bullying that has led to the organisation having to pay out huge sums to staff that have been silenced embarrasment to avoid. Tax payers need to demand that the audit held earlier on in the year is actioned and that the organisation is overhauled from the mess Ken allowed in the first place. Value for money??? The Greater London Authority/City Hall fails on every level
- Stamp, London
The idea of Gilligan doing an objective audit on Boris is like a wife offering to check the joint bank account after telling her husband about this lovely new village of Westfield she has just visited for the first time.
The way Gilligan failed to question anything Boris promised and audit the costs of a bus that is no longer made anywhere in the world means that if Boris announced tomorrow that he was closing the city branch of the Northern line as he cant see why that line needs two routes when the rest manage with only one. Gilligan would not be able to complain because he like all those who voted for Boris signed a blank cheque.
As for the Mayor of Bexley (letters 12 Nov.) thinking that cancelling the Thames Gateway Bridge would help bring trams to Bexley. The fact is the proposed bridge WAS NOT a 6 lane motorway as often mis-represented (even by the green party) but a 2x2 lane road together with a two-way bus way which in the longer term could have been used to extend the DLR across the Thames to serve areas like Thamesmaed and Bexley at much less cost than a tunnel.
Its called joined up thinking a quality tories fail to do. (nb.Must be something to do with the way posh Grammer & Public schools educate pupils for I have this skill just like Ken had but we went to normal schools.)
As for his promise to taxi drivers thats just Cronyism for the way they handed out Vote Boris leaflets I hope those who use taxis remember to take a fire extinguiser with them.
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex
All very positive, the comments that is.
- Steve, London
The sad truth is that Boris is so indecisive, that he can't even make up his mind about who to appoint to make his decisions for him. There were a lot of problems with Ken, but at least he mastered his brief, What a change with Mayor's Question Time. Ken was always on top of it, Boris just hides his lack of grasp by making weak jokes. London deserves better, a lot better.
- Richard, London, England
Boris Johnson has done lots of work within six months. He is on the right track and he will prove the critics wrong very soon. Good luck Boris.
- Muheed Jeeran, Colombo
Even the admirable Boris can't do everything at once in the huge and complex capital that is London. Rome wasn't built in a day and the Livingstone mess won't be fixed in a day. And - most important of all - we must give him a few minutes a day to say something that will amuse us. If only there were more like him instead of all those tedious condescending politicians who tell us every day what's good for us and then fail to deliver anything useful. How about we have a President?
- John Problem, Hackney Wick, London, UK
all these people that worked for ken u acused of piltering robing stealen doin dodgy deals has any of them been convicted of anything i know the answer they have not
- Mat, london
I still rejoice at the thought of no more ken! Boris, you are doing a great job, London feels like it has some direction for the first time since I arrived 10 years ago and it's down to you. Thank you!
- St, London
Sounds like Boris has achieved little of any worth, apart from canceling things and paying off the taxi drivers. Just a shame Gillicon took so long to say it.
- Steve, London
ken was the man he loved the job id vote again for him tommorow
- C May, bromley
