This is one of the questions posed by The Economist in London’s Mayoral Race: Back into the Fray. economist.com/node/21542409In May, London’s incumbent mayor Boris Johnson, a mega-flamboyant Conservative, will run against the same opponent he faced in 2008: Ken Livingstone, the Labour Party candidate, and Johnson’s predecessor. Both Johnson and Livingstone men are capable. While Johnson’s eccentricities and manic kind of charisma have made him a popular mayor, Livingstone, about 20 years older than Johnson, may have the advantage of pitching to a more natural constituency in the generally liberal voters of London. Excerpt:
There is a pervasive assumption, even in the Labour Party, that the mayoral race is a foregone conclusion. It is not.
London leans left””as big, diverse cities tend to. Mr Livingstone, knowing that voters often punish governments between general elections, aims to paint his rival as just another Tory. And although the polls suggest that Londoners prefer Mr Johnson on policing, the economy and the Olympics, he trails on the vital issue of transport. A spate of strikes on the Tube has encouraged the view that Mr Livingstone, a machine politician and a man of the left, is better at dealing with London’s ornery unions.