Boris Johnson distances himself from the budget but hopes to get closer to education policy in the capital
Boris Johnson won the 2008 mayoral election with a fair wind behind him, courtesy of a Labour government reeling from the decision to hurt low earners with a 10p rate of tax. This time, Johnson faces re-election on 3 May on the back of a budget in which George Osborne delivered what Johnson spent a considerable amount of his mayoralty lobbying for: the scrapping of the 50p rate of tax.
Pensioners, now facing what has been dubbed "the granny tax" to help pay for the cut may not thank the Conservative candidate for being quite so politically effective. But Johnson, riding high amid an eight-point poll lead over Ken Livingstone in the latest YouGov survey published on the eve of the budget, is modestly refusing to take any credit for the cut to 45p in 2013. "I am not the chancellor," he insists.
But then again, he is quite happy to spell out in his campaign material that he is "the only candidate who can secure a better deal for Londoners from No 10".
The charismatic incumbent mayor outpolls his party ahead of an electoral contest in which personality plays a large part. Nonetheless, he is presenting his bid for a second term as a "very tough fight". Early polling suggests Osborne's budget has done the Tories few favours. But the most popular Conservative in the land is using his trademark ability to duck and weave to good effect. With no sense of contradiction, he points out the way he has protected infrastructure investment in the capital and secured extra powers as just two examples, while disowning any decision he has influenced what has consequently played badly with the public.
His Labour rival, Ken Livingstone, has wasted no time seeking to gain votes among pensioners by coupling Osborne's decision to scrap the top rate and freeze the age-related personal allowance. Figures published by the House of Commons library show that 410,000 Londoners are set to lose an average of £83 a year – a third of the 1.2 million Londoners aged 60 and over. Out campaigning in north London, the Labour candidate, now 66, said pensioners are paying the price for "Boris Johnson's tax cut for the super rich".
Johnson, who has used every public avenue to make the case for the abolition of the 50p top rate, now says coolly that the decision to reduce it to 45p is nothing really to do with him. The issue has not come up once on the campaign trail since Osborne confirmed the contents of his budget on Wednesday, he insists. He appears confident he can assuage the affected grey vote by referring them to his pledge to keep the 24-hour freedom pass for Londoners from age 60.
On other fronts, Johnson is only too keen to underline his hotline to the government. Having lauded Livingstone after defeating him at the 2008 election as a "distinguished leader of this city", he now presents the choice facing Londoners as a return to the past or a look to the future. He casts Livingstone's tenure as one big financial mismanagement and contrasts this to his own administration, which, he argues, has been rewarded by the coalition government for responsibly cutting waste with funding that will allow major infrastructure investments such as Crossrail and tube upgrades to go ahead.
He refuses to entertain a plan B if he loses the mayoral election. Clearly more confident than he dare publicly admit, Johnson is already looking at extending his reach by venturing into education in a second term.
The London mayor, who admits he was "shocked" by the sense of "nihilism" among many young people caught up in the riots, is seeking a strategic say over education. He believes more early intervention is needed to keep children on the right track, singling out the improvement of literacy and numeracy as the pressing priorities.
He stands by his decision to delegate the daily duties for one power he already has – policing – despite making the tackling of youth crime a key pledge of his first term.
Johnson handed over the reins as the chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority to his deputy mayor, Kit Malthouse, an elected Conservative member of the London Assembly. Malthouse has segued into the role at the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime – effectively the first elected police commissioner role in the country. Johnson says it is impossible to do all the jobs himself, claiming he chairs a number of bodies, notably Transport for London. Some, though, will wonder why he wants even more on his plate. But Johnson says he feels like someone "who has built half a bridge" and wants to finish the job.