upturn, 2015 will look very different. Whatever happens, I suspect that the 2015 result will be contentious and possibly the electorate will only have themselves to blame. Yes, you're probably right. We try to fit standfirsts into two decks of a typical browser view, and "the" bumped it over, so we dropped it in order to get "election" in, but on balance we're better off dropping "election". Boris is in the favourable position of receiving little to no scrutiny for his part-time Mayorship, crony capitalism (hiring a friend for 95,000 per year job without advertising it publicly), his very close relationship with the Evening Standard that became his Pravda during the Mayoral election. All the world loves a joker and that is what Boris has made an art form. However he remains a dangerous right wing Tory and I think that in the main people, especially outside of London, have long sussed him out for what he is. The survey found little support (28%) for the view that the "government should spend more on welfare benefits even if it leads to higher taxes". This compares with 58% in 1991 . I guess its worth reading that article in full to get a more accurate picture than the one you've offered. So here's a link . The survey shows that most people want to maintain current levels of public spending. Lower taxes and lower spending, as per Johnson's small-state conservatism, is supported by a whopping 6 per cent. See George Eaton's