|
 Odds
on Who Will be
Elected London's
Next Mayor
Paddy
Power - Ireland's
largest online
bookmaker - has made
Boris Johnson the
easy 8/13 favorite
to be named London's
next Mayor.
Alexander Boris de
Pfeffel Johnson
(commonly known as
Boris Johnson, born
19 June 1964, New
York City) is a
British Conservative
Party politician,
journalist and
former editor of The
Spectator.
He is Member of
Parliament for
Henley and was for a
time front-bench
spokesman as Shadow
Minister for Higher
Education, until the
announcement of his
intention to stand
in the London
mayoral election of
2008. Johnson was
chosen as the
Conservative Party
candidate on 27
September 2007.
The
left-wing pressure
group Compass has
issued a dossier
which argues that
"his buffoonery
conceals a hard line
right wing set of
views - a type of
Norman Tebbit in
clown's uniform."
The dossier attempts
to suggest that he
is a sub-optimal
candidate for the
London mayorship.
The dossier has been
challenged on
factual accuracy and
representativeness
by the Evening
Standard's Andrew
Gilligan. However
the Evening Standard
has been accused by
The Guardian's
Seumas Milne of "to
all intents and
purposes running the
Tory candidate Boris
Johnson's campaign
for the mayoral
election in May".
Johnson's candidacy
for London Mayor was
officially confirmed
by the Conservative
Party on 27th
September 2007. His
election campaign
was officially
launched in Edmonton
on 31st March 2008,
when David Cameron,
introducing Johnson,
commented "I don't
always agree with
him but I respect
the fact that he's
absolutely his own
man"
Johnson's candidacy
has been the subject
of international
interest. Germany's
Der Speigel and
America's National
Public Radio,
reported on the
race, both quoting
Johnson as saying
"if you vote for the
conservatives, your
wife will get bigger
breasts, and your
chances of driving a
BMW M3 will
increase."
Johnson is also
challenged somewhat
closely by Ken
Livingstone - who
would pay out €6 for
every €5 bet if he
were to win at
Paddy Power.
Kenneth Robert
Livingstone (born 17
June 1945) is a
British politician
and current Mayor of
London, a post he
has held since its
creation in 2000. He
was previously
Member of Parliament
for Brent East, and
Labour Leader of the
Greater London
Council from 1981
until it was
abolished in 1986.
He is a member of
the Labour Party,
but was initially
elected as Mayor of
London as an
Independent
candidate after the
Labour Party chose
not to nominate him
as their candidate
in the first mayoral
elections. In
January 2004, he was
re-admitted to the
Labour Party. He
stood as the
official Labour
Party candidate for
Mayor in the June
2004 elections,
which he won with a
total of 828,380
first- and
second-preference
votes.
He is the Labour
Party candidate for
the forthcoming 2008
mayoral election, in
which he hopes to
win a third term.
Brian
Paddick, meanwhile,
would pay out €50
for every €1 bet if
he were to win.
The
upcoming Mayoral
race received a
shocker on Sunday as
the News of the
World revealed a
"sex scandal"
involving one Lord
Laidlaw claiming
he had gotten
into bed with with
Tories for £6m..and
hookers for £3,000 a
night.
----
Payton O'Brien,
Gambling911.com
Senior Editor
POBrien@CostiganMedia.com
Originally published
April 27, 2008 10:55
am ESt
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