''Boris v. Ken: How Boris Johnson Won London'' is a 2008 book by Giles Edwards and Jonathan Isaby about the

2008 London mayoral election The 2008 London mayoral election for the office of Mayor of London, England, was held on 1 May 2008. Conservative Party (UK), Conservative candidate Boris Johnson defeated incumbent Labour Party (UK), Labour Mayor Ken Livingstone. It was the th ...

Background

Ken Livingstone Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945) is an English politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of London from the creation of the office i ...

won the

2000 London mayoral election The 2000 London mayoral election was held on 4 May 2000 to elect the Mayor of London. It was the first election to the office established that year, after a referendum in London. Electoral system The election used a supplementary vote system ...

as a left-wing independent against the official Labour Party candidate. Livingstone was readmitted to the Labour Party and won the 2004 election for Labour. In 2008,

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

became the first

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

mayor of London after triumphing against Livingstone. The book examines the campaign. The book was referenced in the academic work, ''The Conservative Party: From Thatcher to Cameron'' and was placed on a reading list issued to Conservative MPs.

Reception

In ''

Total Politics ''Total Politics'' is a British political magazine described as "a lifestyle magazine for the political community". It was first published in June 2008, and is distributed freely to all MPs, MEPs, peers, political journalists, members of the Scot ...

'' magazine, Keith Simpson wrote 'Basically, this book tells the story of how Boris won and why Ken lost. The authors conclude by considering the impact on national politics of the election of Mayor Boris, not least in what they believe could become a rivalry between Boris and David Cameron', while in ''Progress'' magazine

Peter Kellner Peter Jon Kellner (born 2 October 1946) is an English journalist, former BBC ''Newsnight'' reporter, Pundit (politics), political commentator, and former president of the YouGov opinion polling organisation in the United Kingdom. He is known for ...

described the book as a 'brisk and highly readable narrative' and noting 'The swing to the Conservatives was significantly less in London than in the local elections elsewhere in England'. The book was also featured on

BBC Parliament BBC Parliament is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel from the BBC that broadcasts live and recorded coverage of the House of Commons, House of Lords and Select Committees of the British Parliament, the Scottish Parliament ...

References

2008 non-fiction books Politics of London Books about London Books about politics of the United Kingdom Non-fiction books about elections 2008 in British politics Boris Johnson Ken Livingstone {{UK-poli-book-stub