London elections - please stop Boris today

If you have a chance to vote in the election for the London mayor today, please, please stop Boris Johnson being elected. He may play the loveable buffoon, but the reality is that Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a hard-right Thatcherite, who:

• despises anyone not of his class
• was pro-Iraq war
• was against the Kyoto treaty
• is against the minimum wage
• was fired as a journalist from The Times for making up quotes
• will not back Ken Livingstone’s pledge to make 50 per cent of all new homes cheap enough for ordinary workers

He has expressed racist, sexist and homophobic opinions over the years, including such gems as:

Right, let’s go and look at some more piccaninnies.

Boris Johnson speaking to UN workers and their black driver in Uganda.

He liberated Iraq. It is good enough for me.

Boris Johnson on Bush

Whenever (he) appears on TV … I find a cheer rising irresistibly in my throat.

Boris Johnson on Bush

Gay marriage can only ever be a ludicrous parody of the real thing.

Boris Johnson on homosexuality

the most dangerous thing [on roads]

Boris Johnson on pedestrians

I’m down with the ethnics. You can’t out-ethnic me, Nihal

Boris Johnson speaking about race with Nihal Arthanayake, BBC Asian Network

In short, Boris Johnson is not fit to run/represent a city, and would be an absolute bloody nightmare for London.

Today’s Guardian has various Londoners, some of them slebs, imagining what it would be if Boris Johnson became mayor.

How to keep out Boris … whatever your politics

If you passionately want to keep Boris out

1st Choice Ken
2nd Choice Anyone except Boris

If you don’t like Ken, but want to keep Boris out at all costs

1st Choice Not Ken or Boris
2nd Choice Ken

If you’re still not sure who to vote for, the Vote Match site will tell you which candidate most closely matches your views. This is what it came up with for me:

I’ll be voting for Siân Berry (Green) as my first choice, and Ken as my second choice. As Ms Berry says,

I’m after every first preference vote I can get in this election, and pointing out wherever I can that there’s no risk of letting in Boris Johnson by putting me first and Ken Livingstone second. If you already support the Greens, or if you are fed up with Ken, but anxious not to turn our city over to the Tories, this is probably the ideal combination of votes.

I’m not a big fan of Ken any more and it pains me to vote for a New Labour candidate, but it’s the only way to stop Boris Johnson. (Interestingly, the Federation of Small Businesses has said that the Green Party manifesto is best for small businesses.)

As Chicken yoghurt says,

If Boris Johnson does get voted in on Thursday, a law should be passed immediately prohibiting Londoners from making jokes about George W Bush. Only fair, I think.

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