Boris is positively out-polling the PM nationally…

Via Sun

This week there is a bottle of Jura Superstition up for grabs.

Usual rules apply…

Well on the airwaves at least. While the Prime Minister was reacting to the latest grim economic news on LBC, the Mayor of London was able to grandstand on the Daybreak sofa. Boris informed viewers that he doesn’t want Dave’s job just yet, saying he does not want to be PM “at the moment”. He said it is “inconceivable” that he would get the job. “That’s what they said about you being Mayor” replied Kate Garraway. Quite…

It turns out President Hollande was all mouth and no trousers last week as he tried to mock Team GB’s medal haul:

“We don’t talk of money, we talk of gold. The British have rolled out a red carpet for French athletes to win medals. I thank them very much for that, but the competition is not over. We will put the French medals into the Europe pot, so that the British will be happy to be European.”

Sixteen Team GB golds later and the cat seems to have got Hollande’s tongue  - Britain now has double the number of golds won by the French and are miles ahead of them in the overall medal table.

Boris twisted the knife this morning, delivering the sort of line that Dave dreams of being able to say:

“Well, M le Président, mettez-ça dans votre pipe et fumez-le! Bien je jamais,eh!”

Absolument.

Surprise surprise:

BREAKING: Boris rules out Corby. "I'm sure Corby is a lovely town but I have a fantastic job running the best big city on the planet".—
Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) August 06, 2012

The fact that speculation even turned in his direction shows how far the Mayor has come this summer.

Soon, but not yet…

If Oscar Wilde is right that there “… is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about” then the Olympics has made things worse for Cameron and better for Boris.

Every single broadsheet this morning is talking about and analysing the prospects for Boris replacing Dave in Downing Street…

• It’s a long shot. But don’t bet against Boris Johnson going for gold | Jonathan Freedland | The Guardian
• The meaning of Boris: high jinks not high office  | Janan Ganesh | The Financial Times
• Is Boris Johnson serious? When it comes to No 10, the answer is deadly so  | Charles Moore | The Daily Telegraph
• Does Boris want to be the PM? Yes, and his team is already trying to make it happen | Andrew Grice | The Independent
• Boris goes global in search of investment for London and to burnish political image | Michael Savage | The Times

As always, you read it here ( Boris2020.org ) first on May 4…

Charles Moore summarises the Tory leadership prospects…

“Cameron is the moderniser, Boris is the post-moderniser.”

Boris Mania has gone truly global as the London Mayor’s heroic zip wire triumph saw him gain a huge wave of new supporters…in China. His Weibo account – the Chinese twitter – gained some 12,000 followers while his latest fans posted messages of support: ”Such a loveable Mayor…I love his spontaneity, not pretentious at all!” Somehow Guido thinks the Chinese adulation of London’s favourite politician is more genuine than the endorsement they give to their own leaders…

Vladimir Putin will be Dave’s guest of honour at the judo this afternoon, and London’s Mayor couldn’t resist having his say as Boris Mania goes international. At least he didn’t challenge the PM to a duel, yet…

Video courtesy of ITV.

Boris Mania is in full flow today as a YouGov/Sun poll finds that the Tories would close Labour’s lead to just 1% if the London Mayor replaced Dave as leader. Cameron versus Miliband sees Labour take a six point lead, but if Boris were in charge Ed’s rating would fall and the Tories’ popularity would rocket up. No wonder Dave was so testy yesterday…

But could it all be the work of his sinister backer? The Mayor is hardly making hard work for conspiracy theorists. BoJo invited Uncle Rupe to the Olympic swimming finals and two days later he receives a very favourable poll in the Sun:

London in best shape ever. All overboard about the Olympics, brilliantly organized by Zeb Coe and Boris Johnson.—
Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) August 02, 2012

What was it Murdoch said about how to find out what he really thinks?