Race for mayor enters final lap

By Brian Wheeler
Political reporter, BBC News

"There is no distinction between the old Boris and the new Boris. They are indivisible, co-eternal... consubstantial."

Boris Johnson was a hit with Smithfield's meat traders

There are times, on the campaign trail with Conservative London mayoral candidate Boris Johnson, that you wished you had packed a dictionary.

He may be a little bleary-eyed, having skipped breakfast and his morning cup of coffee to go canvassing at Smithfield meat market, but he is still able to pull a learned reference or two out of the bag, should the occasion demand it.

(If you are interested, consubstantial is a theological term meaning "of one and the same substance or essence".)

Mr Johnson is evidently irritated by the suggestion that he is hiding his true nature from voters - that the old bumbling, gaffe-prone Boris will re-emerge the moment the polls close on 1 May.

There is no doubt voters have seen a different side to the Henley MP during this mayoral contest.

Too close to call

He has been more on-message than we are used to and more focused on policy detail - gone are the days when he could turn to an aide and ask "What is my policy on drugs?".

Mr Johnson still manages to affect an air of mild amusement at the absurdities of the campaign trail.

He is particularly taken with the extravagant U-shaped presents the Smithfield traders have given him.

If I lost there would be a vacancy on the after-dinner speech circuit, so we would really just be swapping jobs Ken Livingstone on Boris Johnson

"Sausage?" he breezily inquires as he thrusts one of them into the hands of a bemused reporter.

But with just a week to go before polling day in a contest that is, by common consent, far too close to call, he is, like every candidate, being careful not to put his foot in it.

He repeats his policy on the congestion charge and his line on Ken Livingstone ("Tired, stale and mired in sleaze") like a mantra - and bridles at the suggestion that there might be a sense in which he is not really suitable for the job of running London.

"There is a deep sense that I am suitable for this job. I am going to work like blazes for the people of London, from 1 May," he says, radiating steely determination.

Congestion charge

The Smithfield porters and meat salesmen love him, cheering and waving as he marches through their long trading hall, surrounded by the inevitable media scrum.

"Smithfield is behind you guv'nor, we need you," says butcher Keith Edwards, rushing out from behind his counter to shake the Tory candidate's hand.

When Ken Livingstone was here, says another meat salesman, they booed and threw bones at him.

The traders hate the congestion charge - and resent having to pay it when they travel home on a morning after a night shift.

"Ken told us to get the bus in," says one indignantly.

A couple of hours later, in my quest to get a flavour of the three main contenders in action, I head south of the river to find Mr Livingstone is taking his own advice, arriving for a photo opportunity in Lewisham on the number 47 - a double-decker rather than a favoured bendy bus.

It is pouring with rain, causing a planned walkabout in a local market to be called off, so Mr Livingstone shelters beneath an umbrella outside the Docklands Light Railway station, to chat to the waiting media.

'Big mistake'

It seems he is not the only one wondering, a little wistfully, what has happened to the old Boris.

"I think they have made a big mistake. I think they would have been better off just letting Boris be Boris," he says of his rival's campaign strategy (perhaps the clearest sign yet that it is working).

"He never looks happy on this campaign. He looks like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders".

Mr Livingstone is soon into his stride, dispensing one-liners and batting away troublesome questions with the casual air of the seasoned campaigner.

They are both wrong for London, but they are wrong for very different reasons Brian Paddick, on his two rivals

Asked what he would do if he lost to Mr Johnson on 1 May, he says: "I am focused on winning. If I lost there would be a vacancy on the after-dinner speech circuit, so we would really just be swapping jobs."

'Independent'

On whether he is entitled to a third term on office, after saying in 2000 that he would only serve one, he says: "I feel I am just getting warmed up".

He also tries to put some distance between himself and the troubles currently besetting the Labour Party.

"It doesn't matter what the party label, I have always been independent. I never followed the whips. They knew me and they never bothered to try."

He describes Mr Johnson as a "19th century liberal, with a small L", adding: "This is a man who believes you should just be able to do whatever you want and, in a big complicated city like this you have to regulate and manage and I am not afraid to do that."

But he has nothing but praise for the Liberal Democrats - saying he is "90% in agreement" with them on many issues.

Second preferences

He knows second-preference votes will be crucial at this election. If no single candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, there is a run-off between the top two, with the second preference votes of the other candidates being added to their tally.

Mr Livingstone is urging Lib Dem voters to put him down as their second preference.

But the Lib Dem candidate Brian Paddick, out campaigning at a youth centre in Kilburn, north London, is unwilling to return the compliment.

The former policeman makes much of the fact that he is a newcomer to politics, but he is enough of a politician to realise that the moment he endorses another candidate, he is effectively out of the race.

So although he is languishing in the opinion polls - and appears to be suffering all the signs of a classic third-party squeeze - he is careful to dish out criticism to Mr Livingstone and Mr Johnson in equal measure.

He has turned down job offers from both men, if they win on 1 May.

"They are both wrong for London, but they are wrong for very different reasons," he says.

"Boris Johnson has never administered anything in his life. He is incompetent. Ken Livingstone has had his day. He is tired. He is out of ideas."

'Party line'

Mr Paddick describes himself as the "serious choice" for London, in an attempt to differentiate himself from his larger-than-life rivals.

But he has at least one thing in common with them.

"What I want to do is to be free to speak out on issues that I am passionate about," he says when asked about his political ambitions should he fail to make it to City Hall.

"I am not going to toe the party line."

The other seven contenders for London mayor are:

• Gerard Batten, UK Independence Party

• Lindsey German, Left List

• Richard Barnbrook, BNP

• Sian Berry, Green Party

• Alan Craig, Christian People's Alliance

• Matt O'Connor, English Democrats

• Winston McKenzie, Independent