London mayor wants 'crack' at being PM
Source: Agencies |
March 20, 2013, Wednesday
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Print Edition
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LONDON'S popular mayor Boris Johnson, tipped as a possible rival to UK Prime Minister David Cameron, has admitted he would like to "have a crack" at being prime minister one day.
Known for his blunt but colorful quotes and a boyishly eccentric personality, the 48-year-old Johnson used a rugby analogy to express his ambitions for the top job and then immediately played them down.
"I think it's a very tough job being Prime Minister," he said in a BBC documentary due to be shown on March 25.
"Obviously, if the ball came loose from the back of a scrum - which it won't - it would be a great, great thing to have a crack at. But it's not going to happen," he added in remarks published ahead of the documentary's release.
Johnson, whose popularity soared alongside last year's London 2012 Olympic Games, has long dodged the question of his longer-term political goals, often deflecting claims he could be the next prime minister with an absurd quip or two.
Last year, when pressed about the issue, the quick-tongued, bicycle-riding Conservative said he had as much chance of becoming prime minister as being decapitated by a frisbee.
Although the mayor is genuinely popular among Londoners who often greet him like a rock star at public events, political analysts say it would be a long and difficult journey to the prime minister's residence at Number 10 Downing Street.
Such ambitions remain hampered by the lack of a seat in parliament and a widely held perception that Johnson may be too flamboyant for the top job. He has also always said he would see out his second term as mayor, which ends in 2016.
Cameron has often laughed off suggestions that Johnson could replace him, once describing the mayor as a "blond-haired mop sounding off from time to time."
Known for his blunt but colorful quotes and a boyishly eccentric personality, the 48-year-old Johnson used a rugby analogy to express his ambitions for the top job and then immediately played them down.
"I think it's a very tough job being Prime Minister," he said in a BBC documentary due to be shown on March 25.
"Obviously, if the ball came loose from the back of a scrum - which it won't - it would be a great, great thing to have a crack at. But it's not going to happen," he added in remarks published ahead of the documentary's release.
Johnson, whose popularity soared alongside last year's London 2012 Olympic Games, has long dodged the question of his longer-term political goals, often deflecting claims he could be the next prime minister with an absurd quip or two.
Last year, when pressed about the issue, the quick-tongued, bicycle-riding Conservative said he had as much chance of becoming prime minister as being decapitated by a frisbee.
Although the mayor is genuinely popular among Londoners who often greet him like a rock star at public events, political analysts say it would be a long and difficult journey to the prime minister's residence at Number 10 Downing Street.
Such ambitions remain hampered by the lack of a seat in parliament and a widely held perception that Johnson may be too flamboyant for the top job. He has also always said he would see out his second term as mayor, which ends in 2016.
Cameron has often laughed off suggestions that Johnson could replace him, once describing the mayor as a "blond-haired mop sounding off from time to time."
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