Is it worth it...

So Boris is weighing up his options, or as one commentator put it "finding it hard to resist a popularity contest".

Conventional wisdom would be that Boris should nix the idea - he has a safe seat and good prospects, now is not the time to throw the cards in the air. Also, the unspoken implication goes, shadow higher education secretary and MP is higher office than London's mayor.

The tragedy is that at the moment that is right. But this needn't be the case.

In America, the Mayorality of a great city is a recognised stepping stone - and the parties hunt for convincing executives (mayors / governors) to be their presidential candidates.

In London, the fact that our Mayor is Ken Livingstone means that the position can hold little real power. No-0ne really trusts (or likes) the man, and he runs the place in a manner more akin to a student union than anything else. He postures with terrorists, play-acts with revolutionaries and shakes the blood-stained hands of some of the worst men in the world. At the end of the day, no-one really cares - because everyone knows Ken doesn't really matter.

But if a real, grown-up, politician were to win, and then have their party come to power - what change might be wrought, and suddenly how full of opportunity the role of Chief Executive of the Greatest City in the world would become...

It is worth serious thought, Boris.