Compass

I'm going to talk politics, sorry.

It seems that Compass, variously described as a "Brownite Pressure Group", and a "Left of Centre Group", has launched something of a verbal attack on Boris Johnson, who is hoping to run against Ken Livingston for the role of London Mayor. I'm not sure whether "attack" is actually the correct term actually. The FT actually describes it as a "ferocious attack", and claims a "political battle erupted". I can't see it myself.

Compass actually said, "His (Boris') buffoonery conceals a hard-line rightwing set of views". Well I'm not sure about the buffoonary comment, but Boris is actually a Conservative MP, which I would suggest automatically makes him a right winger. I'm not sure really why they think that is worth mentioning. In fact, I'd suggest it was part of his appeal. Compass goes on to suggest that Boris holds "Thatcherite" views. That would be views consistant with those of Margaret Thatcher, the most popular and successful PM of the 20th century I assume - how ghastly! But most strangely, they go on to say that the Tory leader's support for Boris as Mayoral candidate would, “destroy the false image Cameron has spent the last 18 months trying to create”. This is a left wing, socialist, anti-Tory, Labour voting, Brownite group. Why would they be concerned about David Cameron destroying the false image he has spent the last 18 months cultivating? David Cameron is the enemy; one would think they might be indulging in a quiet celebration if they really thought the Tory leader was damaging his own image.

But all this is rather beside the point. I want to illustrate the irony here. Compass has described Boris Johnson as a hard-line right winger, with Thatcherite views, and suggested that he is likely to disrupt his own party. The candidate they support is Ken Livingston, a hard-line left winger, with Marxist views, who got thrown out of his own (Labour) party when he stood for Mayor because he opposed the Labour sponsored candidate Frank Dobson, who also lost his job as I remember. Ken went on to win the vote as an independent.

This isn't the first slightly odd attack on Boris. Last week it was reported that Labour supporters were being urged to vote for Tory candidates other than Boris in a bid to prevent him from becoming the party sponsored candidate, thus leaving a weaker Tory candidate to oppose Ken. It strikes me that this tactic was unlikely to work, partly because he could run without party sponsorship (as Ken did), and partly because he is so far ahead of any other Tory candidates that it isn't going to make any difference.

I can only conclude that the left wingers are so scared of Johnson running against Livingston that they have resorted to these rather desperate measures.