Video: Boris Johnson in Crayford and Bexleyheath making cocktails and brushing off PM talk (From News Shopper)

Video: Mayor of London Boris Johnson in Crayford and Bexleyheath making cocktails, brushing off PM talk and proclaiming love for Bexley

10:13am Friday 12th October 2012 in News By George Sargent

Fresh from taking the Conservative Party conference by storm in Birmingham, the Mayor of London swept into Bexley yesterday. Reporter GEORGE SARGENT caught up with him.

BORIS Johnson swooped into Crayford on Thursday to join refreshments company Mobile Bar Hire in its 10th anniversary celebrations.

Run by Sandhu brothers, Ragbhir and Avtar, the business is one of many small enterprises being praised by the mayor for its role in the Olympics after it supplied bars for the Australian team.

Afterwards he visited St Catherine’s Catholic School in Bexleyheath where he met children and teachers before holding an assembly.

GS: Hi I am George from News Shopper.

BJ: I love the News Shopper.

GS: Thank you. That's great to hear. Your published diary shows you visit Bexley a lot, why do you like it so much?

BJ: Wild horses wouldn’t keep me away from Bexley. It’s a borough that’s got a great future.

I’m a big fan of Theresa O’Neill and what the council is doing here. It’s always great to support a great local business like Mobile Bar Hire and I really congratulate the Sandhu brothers on what they are doing. The can-do Sandhus.

GS: What do you think about the Paramount pleasure park which is planned for Swanscombe?

BJ: I’m very excited. It’s got great potential, it underlines the case for extending Crossrail from Abbey Wood to Ebbsfleet which we want to look at and it will bring jobs and growth to the area.

We’ll be very keen to support it.

GS: Would you like to be Bexley MP one day?

BJ: I don’t think that is going to arise. I think Bexley has got some excellent MPs which I’m keen to support.

GS: Would you ever think about going back to the Commons at some point?

BJ: I’ve spent all week saying no to that one, I’m getting on with my job as mayor.

GS: What’s it like to be a ‘political rock star’?

BJ: I was very lucky to be Mayor of London during the Olympic Games. My job is to get on and deliver what we said we were going to do and improve the lives of the people in London.

GS: Is Boris Island still a possibility?

BJ: There’s massive job regeneration potential in that area, a new airport in the Thames Estuary would drive, we think, about half a million jobs and it would be a massive boost to this part of the world.

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See below for a video of Mr Johnson making a new cocktail dubbed the Bexley Breeze Block:

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BORIS LOVES BEXLEY

Johnson's recently released diary reveals he visited five Bexley events between his election on May 1, 2008 and April 20 last year.

He also had seven official meetings or phone conversations with Bexley Council leader Councillor Teresa O'Neill and four meetings with Bexley cabinet member for children's services and community safety Cllr Katie Perrior.

Of the London boroughs covered by News Shopper, only Greenwich saw more of Mr Johnson with 10 visits, while Bromley received two and Lewisham none at all.

Cllr Perrior worked closely with Mr Johnson as part of the media team which helped him to his first mayoral election win in 2008.

The chats with Cllr O'Neill are no surprise given she was appointed Mr Johnson's outer-London election adviser in February last year, helping him defeat Ken Livingstone for a second time in the May 2012 election.