Yet more Boris

So, the Compass Group, that leftist Labour group that agitated for the sacking of Tony Blair and for the reassertion of socialist values, have decided that they don't support Boris Johnson for Mayor of London. Well, chuh.

If those of us who hanker for a fairer, more equal and democratic world fail to draw attention to Johnson's views and re-mobilise London's progressive consensus, we could end up with the most right-wing Mayor of London in living memory.

I'd say that's a certainty if Boris is elected - after all Ken Livingstone is the first London Mayor, and Boris (and most of the UK population) are well to his right.

Londoners certainly cannot complain that they will not have a clear choice this time round. Boris is Thatcherite and proud of it; Ken Livingstone was once Thatcher's nemesis.

True, if by 'nemesis' you mean 'annoying irrelevance'.

He is an avid supporter of President Bush; he opposed the Kyoto treaty and the national minimum wage; he believes that trouble comes from "too zealous" attempts to tackle inequality; and he has called for the widespread sacking of public sector workers.

This might be overstating his support for Bush, unless by 'avid support' you can include saying The President is a cross-eyed Texan warmonger, inarticulate, who epitomises the arrogance of American foreign policy. Otherwise this looks like the definition of a conservative. So the message is really: Don't vote for Boris - he's a Conservative. Say a left wing labour group.

In other news, dog bites man...

UPDATE: The Compass Report is here by the way. It's fatuous nonsense as might be expected. One point I did notice, however: Number of times Boris Johnson uses the word 'piccaninnies': 1. Number of times Compass uses it: 4 (including twice on the opening page). Mountains? Molehills?