Doughnut plan helped Boris win

11:16am Thursday 15th May 2008

Comments (4)   Have your say »

Boris Johnson was elected Mayor of London largely thanks to voters in Bexley and Bromley. DAVID MILLS looks at reasons why.

BORIS Johnson ended Ken Livingstone's eight-year reign as Mayor of London by 139,772 votes - less than seven per cent of the overall vote.

But it was Mr Johnson's crushing victory over his Labour rival in the Bexley and Bromley constituency which propelled the Tory to power.

In Bexley and Bromley, Mr Johnson won three times as many votes as Mr Livingstone - a greater margin than in any other area.

London's new Mayor received more than 60 per cent of first choice votes - 122,052 - in Bexley and Bromley.

This left Mr Livingstone languishing far behind in second place with only 40,670, or 20 per cent, of first choice votes.

Mr Johnson's success was due to a campaign known as the doughnut strategy, which targeted Tory strongholds in London such as Bexley and Bromley, aimed at getting people out to vote.

In the Bexley and Bromley constituency, the turnout was almost 50 per cent - with 203,146 people voting out of a 407,003-strong electorate.

This was the highest percentage turnout across Greater London and higher than the overall average of 45 per cent, or 2,456,990 votes from an electorate of 5,419,913.

When on the campaign trail, Mr Livingstone did not once visit Bromley or Bexley, while Mr Johnson targeted the constituency.

Tory Bromley councillor Nicholas Bennett said: "In the words of Boris Johnson, it's the first time the doughnut has attacked the hole.

"Boris came here four or five times in this latest campaign.

"In the past eight years Ken Livingstone came here twice and went abroad more often than he came to Bromley."

Cllr Bennett claims Mr Livingstone had ignored suburban London.

He added: "There's a level of crime which interferes with public realm such as bad behaviour on buses, for example when schools are coming out.

"There's a feeling society is degenerating.

"The Mayor has to look at the quality of life in the suburbs and that means the whole of London."

A recent survey by Ipsos MORI found people living in outer London boroughs were more miserable than those living in inner London, and found issues such as crime to be more of a concern.

The survey found people living in "doughnut" boroughs such as Bromley and Bexley were more concerned with teenagers hanging around on streets, rowdiness and vandalism compared with those living in the centre.

Ben Page, the chairman of the Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute, says Mr Johnson tapped into the concerns of outer Londoners.

He said: "Whether putting police on buses will make people safer, we'll wait and see.

"High-profile crimes and low-level anti-social behaviour has created a sense crime is out of control.

"It's a huge challenge for Boris to make people feel safer.

"If he can do it, he should become Prime Minister."

Mr Johnson has already begun rewarding those who supported him during his campaign, with Bexley Council leader Councillor Ian Clement being appointed one of the new Mayor's deputies.