Why Brum needs a Boris

Jul 20 2007

OF course the naughty, droll and mop-headed Tory MP Boris Johnson must be London's next mayor.

He's been forced to apologise for calling Liverpool a maudlin city, has had to grovel to his wife for dropping his Calvin Kleins for a couple of indiscretions (no more than those silly little hiccups that beset most marriages), but he's always emerged smiling and never petty.

We need mirth in politics and public life to keep us interested.

Worthiness - think of the Queen - is all very commendable, but it doesn't titillate us, doesn't get us talking.

When did you last gossip about the Windsors' private lives, for instance? Never? That's because they bore us.

I can't recall a more lumpen lot than our present Birmingham City Council - where's their mirth, their senses of humour, their wit? They're so painfully earnest that I could tweak their ears. Not an engaging character among them - which is why we can't lose our chance of a personable mayor to liven us up.

We need a Boris for Birmingham, don't we?