London after Livingstone's loss

In the post-modern climate, it was sometimes hard to know how seriously anyone was supposed to take Johnson's views. But as a Conservative Party candidate for the mayor of London, Johnson could no longer shelter behind the columnist's lazy excuses, and he waged a careful and mostly dignified campaign, distancing himself from many of his earlier remarks. His central thrust was 'against crime,' with the populist touch of replacing the new elongated, uncomfortable 'bendy buses' with much loved double-decker Routemasters. And, of course, he inveighed against the 'political correctness' of the incumbent Livingstone regime, including its links with the Chávez government in Venezuela (which benefited poorer east Londoners with cheap fuel).