Outgoing London mayor Boris Johnson understood what makes London great
Whoever emerges as London’s next mayor will be filling some enormous shoes. Boris Johnson’s legacy can’t really be quantified in the way you’d weigh ordinary politicians’ achievements.
Yes, he can point to Crossrail and huge transport investment, hundreds of thousands of new jobs, a wildly successful Olympics, falling crime, lower mayoral council tax, and big efficiencies at City Hall.
And yes, he may regret his failures. London still isn’t building enough homes, and his attitude to airport expansion can only be described as obstructive.
But Johnson’s real significance as mayor is something far greater: under his watch London regained its mojo.
Eight years ago, the capital was being written off. Its economy gutted by the financial crisis, foreign journalists were openly speculating that the party was over for London, its crown usurped by rival cities like Dubai and Singapore. The city was governed by Ken Livingstone, a specialist in the politics of negativity and division (well before his recent sins, in 2012, he half-jokingly demanded that we “hang a banker a week until the others improve”).
Yet in eight short years, London has been transformed. Our city is confident in its role as the pre-eminent global capital, embracing new technologies and industries such as fintech and life sciences, generating vast wealth once again, and acting as a magnet for talented people the world over.
Boris isn’t responsible for all this, as he would himself readily admit. But he is a very special type of politician – not just in his individualistic character, but because he truly understands what makes London such a vibrant and dynamic place. To use his words, “like it or not, the free market economy is the only show in town”.
He’s defended the vital role of foreign investment in the housing market, he’s taken on the politics of envy, he’s represented the capital globally as an open and exciting place to do business, and he’s done all this with an optimism about London that has surely been infectious.
Some in the City view his latest gambit, his support for leaving the EU, as evidence of another side to Boris’ character: a relentless and fickle political ambition. But there is another interpretation to this. In siding with Brexit, Johnson confirmed once again that he is a risk-taker. And Britain could do with a few more of those, in politics and beyond.