A belter of a speech from Boris cheers up the burglar-bashing Tories

The Conservatives started their day with a bout of burglar-bashing, which seems to have cheered them up no end. Bashing a burglar, or hijacking a hoodlum, is a rhetorical sport which the Tory tribe really enjoys.

Labour strategists, who were quick to present the decision to allow homeowners to beat up intruders as a lurch to the Right, should be careful. Many, many voters agree with the Tories that burglars should be bashed.
Many voters also like Boris Johnson. And today he produced another belter.
One of the most remarkable aspects of the Boris phenomenon is the deliberate way in which he cleverly subverts the traditional conventions of speech-making. At one point in his address to Tory conference he appeared to remember that he was in danger of repeating a passage he had already delivered. He asked the audience: "Have I done this bit before? Oh never mind, it's still true."

For any other major platform speaker, this slip would be a disastrous moment inviting mockery and a lashing from newspaper sketch writers. Not for Boris. With a smile and a rustle of his hair, he just ad libs another beautifully crafted bon mot or meandering observation, and moves the audience on.

The effect is disarming, which may help explain part of Boris's appeal. Voters are by now wise to slick speech-makers who have not a hair out of place and try to copy the smoothy-chops Clinton/Blair/Cameron techniques. Boris is described as authentic, but actually he is consciously messing with the form and the audience is in on the joke.

There was another example of this when the Mayor wanted to highlight how dynamic and creative the London economy is, but stumbled into praising Soho and the "young people" involved in the film industry. The audience sniggered, forcing him to respond that Soho had changed. He then got into a confusing but amusing diversion about Hollywood films, which apparently rely on CGI offered by trendy firms in the capital. Afterwards he told aides of the Soho anecdote: "Even I didn't know where that one was going".

It was said that this was Boris on his best behaviour, and it was to the extent that he didn't launch a leadership bid, something he was never going to do (this year). Even so, there were moments where he obviously enjoyed toying with his rival, David Cameron. He observed that the Prime Minister had described him as a "blonde mop". If he is a mop, said Boris, then Cameron is a broom sweeping up Labour's mess. Michael Gove, he even suggested, is a J-cloth.
There was also an obvious and cheeky reference to the promises he has given to support Cameron to the hilt. Talking about transport policy he said with a smirk: "I kept my promise… as I keep virtually all my promises."

There was much more to the speech than jokes, however. In my book what stood out most was the Reaganite sense of optimism about the UK's economic, scientific and technological prospects. When Boris talks about lower taxes and enterprise, he doesn't make it sound narrow or exclusive, choosing instead to relate it directly to questions of social concern and extending opportunity for the poorest.
He also has a Teddy Roosevelt conception of government, wanting the state to be smaller and more efficient, but not rubbishing or discounting what government can sometimes help interconnected individuals and their communities to achieve. It was there in the success of the London Olympics. It will be an immensely powerful theme if the Conservatives want to start winning elections again.