You’ve got to hand it to Boris.

So far, he’s very successfully managed to distance himself from this increasingly unpopular government so he can buck the anti-Tory trend in London and win a second term as Mayor.

Well, you can’t blame him for wanting to distance himself from such an accident-prone Prime Minister but it’s a bit strange how he seems to have got away with it so well considering how close he actually is to David Cameron.

Very close.

For a start, Boris Johnson is David Cameron’s Cousin.

He’s also his long term friend, from the time they were at Eton together, through their membership of the Bullingdon Club together at Oxford University right up to the time they both became Tory MPs together in 2001.

So they’re very close friends, close colleagues – and even related by blood.

Here’s what Boris himself said about David Cameron in 2009:

Boris: my relationship with Cameron is superb

Of course you may not think his closeness to Cameron is a good enough reason not to vote for him.

After all, Boris is quite a likeable, affable funny guy, isn’t he?

Fair enough.

Mind you. He is prone to more than a bit of cronyism, isn’t he:

Boris cronyism row could be headache for Cameron

But, you know, all politicians are guilty of cronyism to a greater or a lesser degree, aren’t they?

And Boris’s fondness for borrowing that offensive turn of phrase from Enoch Powell’s racist ‘rivers of blood’ speech was acceptable because he was only joking, wasn’t he:

“wide-eyed grinning picaninnies”- Enoch Powell

“flag-waving picaninnies” – Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson

Although his other ‘problems’ with race are a bit harder to excuse:

Boris says sorry over ‘blacks have lower IQs’ article in the Spectator

Boris aide’s book on sale in BNP gift shop

But it’s feasible his comments on gay marriage and Section 28 don’t bother you all that much. After all, they were made a long time ago now, weren’t they:

We don’t want our children being taught some rubbish about homosexual marriage being the same as normal marriage, I am more than happy to support Section 28

– Boris Johnson, Daily Telegraph, 2000

But maybe you still think he’s likeable, even after all that.

If you do, try reading this. It’s about one of Boris’s mates, the odious Brian Coleman, and he’s a good representation of the kind of offensive idiots the Mayor likes to surround himself with and employ in his administration:

Help tell this £120K pa Tory pillock who told a desperate mother to live in the real world ….to live in the real world.

And now tell me, after reading that article, do you still think Boris is an affable nice guy who deserves another term?

If so – you’re probably a member of Boris’s family too.

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This was originally posted on the blog Pride’s Purge.