Boris Johnson backs Lynton Crosby for Tory election role

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/nov/07/boris-johnson-lynton-crosby-tory

Version 0 of 1.

Boris Johnson has urged David Cameron to hire Lynton Crosby, the election strategist who helped him win two terms at City Hall, and give him a "free hand" to run the Conservatives' 2015 general election campaign.

The London mayor made the recommendation at a meeting of the influential 1922 committee of Conservative MPs in the House of Commons, where he offered tips about winning elections.

Riding high in the popularity stakes following his second triumph over Labour's Ken Livingstone in May, Johnson said he hoped the party would choose "the right campaign manager" for the next general election, before pausing and smiling to imply he was referring to Crosby.

Crosby was closely associated with the Conservatives' unsuccessful election campaign in 2005 when the then leader, Michael Howard, focused on crime and immigration, and he is seen as a potentially divisive figure for the coalition.

But Johnson said after the meeting that Crosby was "by no means as rightwing" as many people thought and the Tories should "break the piggy bank" to secure his services.

"I think Lynton is a great campaign manager. I think the Tory party would be mad not to get him," Johnson said. "They should kill the fatted calf, break the piggy bank, go for Lynton and give him a pretty free hand to run things. He would be demonised by the media as some sort of attack dog. He's the soul of sweetness. He's by no means as rightwing as everybody will say."

Johnson also backed Cameron as the "right prime minister" for the country, in an attempt to quell ongoing speculation that he harbours ambitions to replace Cameron in the future.

In his second address to the committee this year, Johnson said: "We are doing the right thing for the country, enacting once-in-a-generation reforms in education and welfare. We have the right prime minister in David Cameron [who is] first-rate, a world-class prime minister, as every poll confirms."