What is Boris doing? That is the flat, drab question I'm left asking myself after attending Mayor's Question Time yesterday. The mayor himself seemed quite clear about the answer. Having not been to the last few MQTs I was struck by his grip on policy: yes, there were jokes, but gone was the impression that the comedy was covering the space where knowledge is meant to be.
Yet this very absence of showbiz distractions made me fonder of my pet theory that the Johnson mayoralty is in danger of being about nothing in particular. At one point I sent a text to a fellow hack a few rows away: "do-nothing mayor heading nowhere, shock". That's much too harsh. But when I look ahead to the next mayoral election I'm not sure how good a story Boris will have to tell. What will his big themes have been? What substantial and distinctive achievements will he be able to point to? Will his Tory, light touch instincts result in his not actually doing very much with the office he holds?
I'd say a great deal hinges on his addressing the problems in the Met with courage and skill, on his role in securing an Olympic legacy and on Londoners liking his new bus. Elsewhere, there seems a danger of opacity. Labour's Nicky Gavron pressed him about his affordable housing targets. While some boroughs have agreed these with him, others are quarreling, notably Tory Barnet. What will the mayor do if Barnet refuses to commit to building anything like the number of units he has in mind? Boris didn't really have an answer.
Exchanges about air quality, Elephant and Castle and Outer London Commission also demonstrated how easily a political project can fall prey to compromise, practicalities and drift (something Tim O'Toole's departure won't have helped). To a degree this is inevitable. Mayor, Assembly Members and journalists alike are into the hard grind of mid-term. The honeymoon is over, the novelty has worn off and the recession is disrupting the best laid plans. Yet the amazing, transforming Evening Standard had a point the other day when it argued that Boris has yet to really put his mark on his mayoralty. One way or another, I think he's going to have to put that right.
