PlayPolitical.com - London Mayor

Watch as Boris defends his island airport...and battles his own umbrella

By Mark Wallace
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Watch Boris Johnson's interview with Eddie Mair in which he struggled to answer questions about his past

By Tim Montgomerie
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The BBC's Eddie Mair questioned Boris as to whether he had made up a quote while working at The Times, lied to Michael Howard and had helped a friend target another journalist with threats of violence. Mr Mair accused the Mayor of London of being a "nasty piece of work". Boris looked uncomfortable throughout and unprepared for the onslaught.

LibDemVoice's Stephen Tall blogged that some Tory MPs will be glad this morning that Cameron, rather than Mr Johnson, is their leader.

I called it car crash TV. Boris' advisors need to lock the Mayor in a room for three hours and conduct some US-style debate prep so that he can answer these questions a lot more effectively in future.

2.15pm: The full interview:

Boris Johnson defends taxpayer grant to West Ham to help them afford Olympic stadium

Former Labour minister Richard Caborn was critical of the deal:

"This is the biggest mistake of the Olympics and lessons should be learned from this. West Ham are basically getting a stadium costing more than £600m for just £15m and a small amount in annual rent [£2m]."

Boris Johnson says Osborne is right to cut but spending needs to be more focused on housing and infrastructure

People were wrong to be pessimistic about the Olympics and they're wrong to be pessimistic about 2013. Boris Johnson's New Year message...

> ConHome readers have identified Boris Johnson's re-election as the Conservative Achievement of 2012.

"Mission ImBorisable"

This was the video that Boris Johnson came on stage to at Monday night's ConHome rally.

Boris Johnson: "Heathrow is failing as a hub"

Boris Johnson: "I apologised then and I apologise now" for 2004 Spectator editorial blaming fans for Hillsborough disaster

VIDEO: Could Boris become PM? The Daily Politics does some vox pops

Boris Johnson records video message in support of same-sex marriage

Boris Johnson has recorded a message in favour of gay marriage:

"Hi folks, I'm Boris Johnson, I'm mayor of london. One of the amazing things about London is that it's not only got a declining crime rate, declining murder rate, more theatres than New York, less rainfall than Rome but it's also one of the few places in the country where the rate of marriage is actually increasing and I see absolutely no reason why that happy state should be denied to anybody in our country and that's why I'm supporting the Out4Marriage campaign."

For the Out4Marriage campaign, Joseph Musgrave said:

“Out4Marriage welcomes the Mayor of London reiterating his support of our campaign to see full civil and religious equal marriage made a reality. His video is another important step towards gaining a widespread consensus across the political spectrum on this issue. To readers of ConservativeHome, who I know are keen to see religious concerns addressed, I would say be patient. Our campaign is working hard to see the legal and theological debate is had and I think in the coming days and weeks, ConservativeHome readers will see that.”