London mayor on election alert as he distances himself from Downing Street by warning case for police cuts is 'frail'
Share 6
inShare0
Email 
Boris Johnson holds a broom as he addresses a crowd in Clapham on Tuesday. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
Normally John Humphrys has to work hard to prise information out of politicians.
But Boris Johnson was tripping over himself on the Today programme this morning to deliver his key message. This was that the government's cuts to police are unwise:
If you ask me whether I think there is a case for cutting police budgets in the light of these event, then my answer to that would be no. I think that case was always pretty frail, and it has been substantially weakened.
Andrew Sparrow has reported that Downing Street wasted no time this morning in rejecting Johnson's call. Andrew wrote:
In a statement, No 10 said the cuts were "manageable".
Johnson knew exactly what he was doing this morning. He faces a tough challenge from Ken Livingstone in next year's London mayoral election contest and he needs to place some clear water between himself and the government. The Tories performed poorly in London in the general election last year which means that a straightforward Conservative campaign next year would probably fail.
I wrote in May that Johnson has told David Cameron to expect a series of bust-ups over the next year. I quoted a Johnson ally as saying:
The Conservative party did not win London at the general election. But Boris did win the mayoralty in 2008 because he is the sort of Conservative who can win in left of centre London – contemporary and cosmopolitan.
Cameron was said to be relaxed by Johnson's tactics. But the swift rejection by Downing Street this morning of the mayor's call for a rethink on police cuts show that his licence to thrill may be causing some irritation. Johnson has provided Labour with a handy weapon, as Yvette Cooper made clear in a statement. The shadow home secretary said:
It is shameful that it has taken these appalling events to force Boris Johnson to realise people are concerned about police cuts, as he has already cut 900 police officers from the Met in the last year and the mayor's own plans mean 1,800 officers are expected to go in total over the next few years.
Johnson didn't just distance himself from Tory HQ on police numbers. He also made a point of praising Diane Abbott for the way in which she has condemned the recent violence.
I blogged on Tuesday that the Tories edited some remarks by Abbott to claim that she was excusing violence. A press release from Tory HQ, which mainly focused on Livingstone, was designed to help Johnson by accusing London Labour figures of adopting an "unacceptable, irresponsible, and completely wrong" approach to the riots.
But this is what Johnson said about Abbott:
I think Diane Abbott is absolutely right. This is about gang culture apart from anything else, certainly in London. Those gangs are giving kids boundaries, excitement – all those things that we need to replicate in better ways.