Boris Johnson - the race charge is starting to stick

Roy Hattersley is now backing Boris Johnson (to lose).

Also in the Guardian, a pattern seems to be emerging. First of all, we had Doreen Lawrence denouncing Johnson (cue outraged Dalestorm). Now we have a letter from several Black and Muslim leaders criticising Johnson's record on race issues and listing his past utterances on th esubject:

They include stereotyping Africans as having "watermelon smiles", calling children "piccaninnies" and calling for a return of the empire. The would-be Tory candidate for London mayor also campaigned against the Macpherson inquiry recommendations and accused Nelson Mandela of leading a "black tyranny".

...The mountain of shocking views penned by Boris cannot be dismissed as one-off eccentricities. Seen together, his articles build a picture of a man utterly unsuited to run a multicultural city like London.

The letter is signed by Karen Chouhan (The 1990 Trust), Eroll Walters (Black Londoners Forum), Simon Woolley (Operation Black Vote), Massoud Shahjareh (Islamic Human Rights Commission), Mohammad Sawalha (British Muslim Initiative).

Euro-rows could re-open in Tory party

Philip Webster in The Times observes David Cameron risks whipping up an old-fashioned Tory EU storm.

DC come home

Excellent cartoon from Dave Brown in the Independent.

David Cameron should be very worried

A Telegraph leader praising the Tories and saying "At last we're getting red meat from the Tories".

Heavy duty Grammar check ready for Prescott memoirs

We are to be treated to John Prescott's memoirs. As usual the reverse self-justification rule applies: the more the author tries to justify their actions and sanctify themselves, the less the books sell.

I don't expect a great readership for this oevre.

Third party leader arrives by hovercraft to address voters on busy seaside beach

Yes, it did happen. Several times. In 1974. Jeremy Thorpe did a tour of seaside resorts to drum up support from voters in the run-up to the second general election of the year, which was held in October that year.

I witnessed one of these events at Bude, Cornwall. It was absolutely bizarre. Jeremy Thorpe's hovercraft arrived from the sea and landed on busy Summerleaze beach, on which hordes of tourists were sunbathing in their swimming trunks/bikinis. Thorpe then came out of the hovercraft and addressed the populace from the running board of his craft. He stood there in a three-piece suit and trilby hat, in the blazing sunshine. I remember that Angela Rippon, the broadcaster, was standing beside him with a film crew for Westward Television.

You couldn't make it up.

In order to prove that I am not dreaming, here below is a photo of said tour from the BBC archive (which I have reproduced in low resolution format for indicative purposes only on this non-profit-making site.) The photo seems to have been taken on a rather more inclement day than the one when I witnessed Thorpe's coming.

There is a BBC archive article on the October 1974 general election.

Footnote: Interestingly, Paul Tyler was actually an MP at the time of this tour - he was MP for Bodmin from the first 1974 general election in February until the second one in October, so that when he came back to the Commons in the 1990s to represent North Cornwall, he was treated well ahead of the queue of new MPs for coat/sword pegs etc (because the divvying-up is all done on the date of your first entrance to the Commons).

Brown tells Labour - get all PPCs in place by conference

Gordon Brown has ordered all Labour constituency parties to have PPCs in place by the time of the Labour conference in the autumn.

I am beginning to start to believe this snap autumn election malarkey. However, if it is likely, despite Labour needing something north of £20million , perhaps even £40 million, to fund it, why do they keep dropping hints about it?

Surely a "snap" election loses a lot of its "snap" if it is touted in advance ad naueseam, does it not?

On balance I tend to go with Andrew Rawnsley's verdict:

Gordon Brown hasn't even told Gordon Brown when he will call a general election. He doesn't know either.