Freedom for Boris

The commentators were saying that a 3% majority for Boris would be a disaster for Labour. The actual result was a 6% majority - so what does that make it?

We need to recognise that having a Conservative in a position of significant power offers a challenge for David Cameron, not least because anyone who is Mayor of London has to be a free thinker and has to put what he thinks is best for London first. A Conservative Mayor has to work with Conservative principles rather than through a Conservative whip.

The difficulty is that the moment there is a potential conflict between Boris and the Conservative Party the media will seize on it. For this reason I hope that David Cameron makes the point soon that he expects Boris to have a free reign, free of party pressure to Govern using his own conscience and recognises this may occasionally cause conflict.

Boris' acceptance speech was magnificent yesterday, as was Ken Livingstone's speech - I expected him to tear into the Labour machine (with just cause) and it is to his credit that he did not.