Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #137089 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Peter Kellner, Progress, July 2008
Brisk and highly readable narrative.

Synopsis
The battle to become Mayor of London is the liveliest and most sensational ever. Ken Livingstone, the incumbent Mayor for eight years, since its inception, is being challenged by a Conservative candidate with the real possibility of unseating him, Boris Johnson. To be published immediately after the election of 1 May, this book will provide a fun and accessible report and analysis of one of the liveliest election campaigns ever. In 2008, the public is perhaps growing just a bit weary of Ken Livingstone's particular brand of 'colourful' behaviour.This most media-savvy of characters faces an even bigger ego - Boris Johnson, Tory MP, newspaper and magazine columnist and television personality. Joining them in the race will be a former senior commander in the Metropolitan Police and a highly telegenic Green, who may possibly play key roles with the important second-choice votes that could decide the outcome. The book will look at the politics, the election itself, the candidates, and of course the results and what they mean for Londoners.

The next Mayor, after all, will have to prepare for the Olympics and tackle London's transport mess, worries about terrorism and crime, and the capital's housing shortage.

Customer Reviews

Excellent narrative history of Boris beating the incumbent
This book is a very quick read and doesn't break much new ground for anyone who took more than a passing interest in the 2008 London Mayoral Election. It is, however, the first book to bring the whole story into one volume and in that sense is pretty exhaustive yet entertainingly written (Isaby's gossip column skills help on this front). Perhaps another book will be written with more analysis of events or in depth accounts of one or other campaign, but for now this is a pretty definitve history lf the election.

Definitive analysis of the London elections 2008
The perfect pairing of Giles Edwards and Jonathan Isaby has made this book the definitive analysis of the race between Boris and Ken. It's pacy, astute and informative. Labour strategists who want to understand where their campaign went wrong should have this down as holiday reading.

Blond Torygraph Boy versus Red Ken
Excellent read tells the story of how Boris applied himself to defeat the man who survived Thatcher , Kinnock , Blair and Brown ! Isaby is a remarkable journo who even in his twenties was consulted by Tory MP's on who would be elected Tory leader in 2001 and 2005.