Word: johnson
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Britain's two other leading parties, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. So it's not surprising that Ken Livingstone, the Labour politician aiming to win a third consecutive four-year term as London's mayor, hopes humor will help him to defeat his main challenger, Conservative Boris Johnson, when Britain's capital goes to the polls...
...There's a twist. Livingstone, who is known for a sharp turn of phrase and once quipped that "if voting changed anything, they'd abolish it," is trying to scare Londoners off voting for Johnson by suggesting that the Conservative is the funnier man, perhaps even the ultimate joke candidate. Billboard posters and 4.2 million postcards being distributed by Livingstone's campaign urge voters to imagine Johnson, despite more than six years as a member of parliament still best known for his many comically chaotic appearances on British TV game shows, in charge of London. "Suddenly...
...Johnson, wild-haired and often wild-eyed on the stump, hasn't helped his cause by contradicting his own policy statements. For example, he has quoted an array of widely different costs for his plan to deploy eco-friendly versions of London's iconic double-decker buses. Such fumbles are a gift to Livingstone, whose success or failure will resonate loudly in Westminster. Voters throughout England and Wales are casting ballots in municipal elections on the same day, and Gordon Brown's battered Labour government is expected to perform miserably, losing perhaps as many as 200 local council seats...
...leaders are added to their tallies. The Green Party is encouraging its supporters to give their second vote to Livingstone; some fans of the Liberal Democrat candidate Brian Paddick, once the highest-ranking openly gay officer in London's Metropolitan police, may opt to allocate their second vote to Johnson. A clever Conservative ploy to mobilize voters in London's outer, more suburban boroughs, who have tended not to vote in mayoral elections, could also pay dividends to Johnson...
...campaign enters its final days, opinion polls are split, with some showing Livingstone in the lead and others suggesting that Johnson will prevail. After eight years of Livingstone's city administration, one of Johnson's advantages is his pledge to serve a maximum of two terms if elected, and to improve accountability at City Hall. The mayor exercises considerable strategic powers over policing and emergency services, transport, planning and regeneration in the capital. In theory, he is held to account by the 25 elected members of the London Assembly, but in practice, assembly members can do little more than question...