London Evening Standard/London
David Cameron yesterday suggested Boris Johnson has to serve his full term as mayor before he can run for Tory leader - and Johnson said voters would never elect him.The prime minister said the London mayor had “a huge amount to offer the country” but added: “Boris has got a huge role to play. He’s going to be mayor of London, he’s got his term to serve as mayor. London is very fortunate to have someone who has got this great ability to bring people together and frankly to cheer people up.”Asked if Johnson would make a good prime minister, Cameron said: “As I say I think he does a great job for London and I’m sure there’s more he can do.”On ITV’s Daybreak show, Johnson denied he had his eye on the Tory leadership.Showed pictures of himself dangling from a zipwire, the mayor quipped: “There you’ve got it. How on earth could anybody elect a person who got stuck in a zipwire?”Cameron pointed out that for any other politician the stunt would have proved a disaster but that it had turned out to be a triumph for Johnson.Johnson said the experience had been “slightly scary” but that it had had a silver lining.“After I got stuck on that thing, we did have a big increase in the number of visitors, so it was not totally fatuous, contrary to appearances.”Asked if he wants to be lead the party he said: “No, of course not because I’ve got four years as mayor of London. Perhaps this is the moment to knock this once and for all on the head.“How can I issue a denial strong enough to stop this silly season story? I am mayor of London and my cup runs over.”However, he failed to rule out his future ambitions for No 10, adding: “At the moment I certainly don’t want to be prime minister.”London would receive a “massive” long-term economic boost from the Olympics, he added, and that people seeing pictures of the city would want to invest.Recent polls make Johnson favourite to succeed Cameron as Tory leader.