On the Today Programme

I was on the Today Programme this morning talking to Andrew Hosken about the benefits of having a Mayor in London, alongside Sonia Purnell, Tony Travers and Christian Wolmar.

I wrote more about the need to increase the Mayor's powers last year

For some of the obvious downsides to having a Mayor, head over to The Scoop.

Michael Portillo says he won't vote for Boris Johnson

I wrote recently about how the Conservative Party have been amazingly loyal to Boris Johnson despite his own repeated disloyalty to them, and despite holding many misgivings about him.

One notable exception to this rule, is the former Conservative Defence Secretary Michael Portillo. Last night he explained on the BBC why he won't be voting for his own party's candidate:

And here he is four years ago on why Boris Johnson is an "embarrassment" to his party:

Portillo is very rare in saying publicly what many other Conservatives will only say privately.

Labour on the other hand seem to have no such misgivings, with Lord Sugar being the latest member to urge people not to vote for his own party's candidate.

The other diference between the two parties of course, is that whilst Alan Sugar's comments have been very widely reported, Portillo's comments almost certainly won't be.

At the Guardian: Ken and Boris's reunion bus battle

You can read my latest Guardian piece on the Mayoral race over here.

At the Guardian: the state of the Mayoral race

I've written a comment piece at the Guardian about what the tax returns story says about the London elections and the state of British politics. Read it here.