Boris Johnson for Mayor?
I was reading thelondonpaper on the way home on yesterday which ran with a story about Boris Johnson for Mayor. It’s a story that’s been running for a couple of weeks, but the new angle is that Boris’ website jumped the gun and published a Boris Is Running! splash.
It does somehow play to Boris’ main strength - bumbling. thelondonpaper reports the web incident as an error, but i’m not so sure. You only have to look at US politics and see how many pre-announcement stories candidates produce before they disappear to a TV show, New Orleans or medical-looking living room before revealing the (unsurprising) news. Pre-announcements and slips provide the most important thing in any political campaign - momentum.
A ’slip’ like this on a Friday keeps the story in the news all over the weekend as ’speculation’ and then from Monday when he’ll probably announce officially, it’ll keep the story live for the next few days as well. The pre-treatment from the press will also give Boris’ campaign vital intelligence about the direction coverage is likely to go, and allows them to co-opt and respond to the stories around the real announcement.