How is Mayor BoJo doing?

Boris Johnson is taking his new job seriously – by going on a holiday in Turkey just three weeks after being elected as Mayor of London. What’s happened to his pledge to work ‘day and night’ for Londoners?. I think he meant to say ‘work day and night for Londoners whilst holidaying abroad’.

On a positive note, Boris, in his first week in the office, appointed Ray Lewis as Deputy Mayor for Young People to tackle youth crimes and to educate young people across London. Ray, of Guyanan origin, has extensive experience of working with young people and making real positive changes in their lives. However his appointment is seen by many as an attempt to mend his damaged image among the doubtful BAME communites.

He’s banned the consumption of alcohol on London Transport Network which we know will be very difficult to implement. He’s also pledged not to renew an oil deal with Venezuela which provides cheap fuel for London buses. Is this economically viable option for London ?

Meanwhile, Ken is presenting LBC Radio on a temporary basis. On the same radio station, he was earlier ridiculed by listeners for visiting his former office buildings. Listeners said it was unusual and unhealthy for anyone to visit their former work places to see how new people are doing their former post. They commented Ken could not still accept the fact that he’s been voted out.

A look back at the London Mayoral Election

It has been over a month now since Ken Livingstone’s 8-year rule as Mayor of London came to a swift and quite end after Boris Johnson won the London Mayoral Election to the dismay of many.

Ken and supporters realised there would be tough election battle ahead which they believed they would win. Even when poll results half-way through indicated a clear lead by Boris, they could see some light in the tunnel and held out their hopes.

Unfortunately that light happened to be a red light for Ken. Their hopes were dashed soon after final poll results were revealed showing Boris had won with 1,043,761 first preference votes compared with Ken’s 893,877.

What caused Ken his downfall then?. There must be a number of causes for his downfall. What we know for sure is that people felt that they were not listened to and their and concerns such as about the expansion of congestion charge and bendy buses were not addressed in a sympathetic and understanding manner. This led to a part of London community that were increasingly dissatisfied with ken.

Boris Jonhson just filled this gap – he capitalised on people’s dissatisfaction with Ken and importantly rallied supporters in areas that Ken’s campaign did not bother. The result was a staggering victory for Boris.

Sometimes you don’t need experience to reach high places – you just to be in the right place and at the right time. Luck will take you there.