City Mayors: Boris Johnson - Mayor of London Mayor of London By Andrew Stevens 3 September 2012: London’s resolutely ‘young fogey’ mayor has confounded expectations on his aptitude to govern since his May 2008 election victory. Having gone from a controversy-seeking journalist to national politician in less than a decade, Boris Johnson was always a surprise choice as Conservative candidate for the Labour-leaning British capital’s top job. His record in office has divided commentators however, some applauding his personal brand and humour underlying a solid vision, others accusing him of breath-taking complacency and attention-seeking. Johnson was re-elected for a second term in May 2012 ahead of London’s successful staging of the Summer Olympics, leading many to ponder a return to national politics and higher office for the seasoned performer mayor. Born 1964 in New York to English parents Stanley Johnson (a former Conservative Member of the European Parliament) and his first wife, the painter Charlotte Wahl, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson moved to England at an early age. He then attended England’s most elite educational institution Eton College, before going up to Oxford’s Balliol College to read Classics.

At Oxford he became president of the world famous Oxford Union debating society and a member of the notorious Bullingdon Club dining society, where he met fellow Etonian and future Conservative Party leader David Cameron. Arguably he was set for a career in politics from an early age. Upon graduation from Oxford in 1986, Johnson embarked on a career in management consultancy, but quit after only one week due to lack of interest. He was then accepted on a traineeship at The Times but dismissed after less than a year for falsifying a quote to spice up a dull story. He was quickly rescued from provincial obscurity on a local evening newspaper by joining the conservative Daily Telegraph as a feature writer in 1987, becoming its Brussels correspondent not long after. Flourishing in his role observing the European Union during the Maastricht Treaty era, he became the paper’s chief political correspondent and was rewarded with a column on the august right-wing weekly The Spectator. He stepped into the magazine’s editor’s chair in 1999 and began to cultivate the media persona which would ultimately lead to election to Parliament, though his first attempt in 1997 for the Labour-held Clywd West seat did not prove successful.

In 1998 Johnson began his longstanding association with the BBC current affairs quiz Have I Got News For You (which would be comparable to The Daily Show in the US), eventually becoming a household name (unusually for a minor Conservative figure) and securing the greatest number of appearances (alongside, ironically, Ken Livingstone ). He finally secured election to Parliament as a Conservative MP in 2001, when he replaced Michael Heseltine in Oxfordshire’s Henley-on-Thames seat on the former Deputy Prime Minister’s retirement. Once in Parliament he retained a prolific output and high profile on the right as a broadcaster and journalist, remaining a Telegraph columnist and editor of The Spectator in 2005. Johnson’s first job in opposition was as Shadow Arts Minister in 2004, during which time he also wrote a comic novel. However, he was soon forced to resign from the post that year following tabloid revelations of an extra-marital affair with a fellow Spectator journalist. Equally his tendency towards gaffe-prone behaviour, having offended many with his journalistic outbursts and frequent apologies for doing so, led some to speculate that his dizzying potential had been eroded early in his political career.

Johnson bounced back however, not least once Oxford contemporary David Cameron was elected leader of the Conservative Party late in 2005. Cameron appointed Johnson as the party’s Shadow Higher Education Minister, arguably a minor role considering his high public profile but one probably suited to his expansive portfolio of activities outside of Parliament. Johnson survived a further marital indiscretion with a journalist and only relinquished his party role in 2007 when the contest for the Conservative ticket for the 2008 London mayoral elections commenced. The party had initially delayed its contest when no ‘big hitters’ came forward to take on Labour’s Ken Livingstone, who then looked assured of a third term as mayor. Johnson was drafted in by the party leadership at the last hour, at the suggestion of the London Evening Standard (which later acted as his cheerleader against Livingstone throughout), forcing his three obscure party rivals to go through the motions and make up the numbers in the contest, in which Johnson emerged with 75 per cent of votes cast by Conservatives. In the event, Johnson began to campaign as something of a slow-burner, with Conservative activists questioning his commitment to the candidacy on account of his various continuing media interests.

The Conservative Party played something of an ace card in hiring the combative Australian election strategist Lynton Crosby, whose winning streak of victories for Prime Minister John Howard was played out in London, where he concentrated resources in Conservative-leaning outlying suburbs (the so-called ‘doughnut strategy’). This had the effect of seeing Johnson overtake Livingstone, who was likened to a tired two-term mayor of questionable judgement over appointments and use of resources by both the Conservatives and parts of the media, and secure election as the second ever directly elected Mayor of London on May 1 2008 (with 1,168,738 votes as against Livingstone's 1,028,966). He subsequently resigned as an MP to devote himself to the mayoralty (while previously representing an Oxfordshire seat in Parliament he had also remained a resident of London). Immediately after his election, Johnson sought to enhance his stature (having been accused of inexperience in an executive role) through a partnership agreement signed with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg , who promised to mentor the new mayor. Throughout the campaign Johnson had made an issue of the alleged lack of financial scrutiny and transparent governance under Livingstone.

He reciprocated as mayor in establishing a ‘forensic audit panel’ to examine financial controls and identify cost savings, such as the international office network put in place by Livingstone. He also established a deputy mayor appointment system to place his advisers on a publicly accountable footing after accusations that the former mayor had hired cronies to key posts in which they abused their power over staffing and expenditure. However, many including the London Assembly have criticised the confusion stemming from this arrangement, where staff deputy mayors rank alongside the statutory Deputy Mayor of London (a member of the assembly appointed by Johnson by law). The early months of the mayoralty were beset by resignations by his advisers over controversial remarks, the fabrication of previous employment record and a personality clash with the mayor. Following his election to a second term and successful staging of the Olympic Games secured by his predecessor, Johnson would probably point to the Paris-style cycle hire scheme (the so-called ‘Boris bikes’) as his signature achievement in office thus far, as well as reforms to the police which seen reductions in some types of crime.

If anything, as mayor Johnson has been preoccupied with the public realm, perhaps paying less attention to economic development than his predecessor (aside from defending the City from ‘banker bashing’, which he believes damages London’s economy). Other high profile actions of the mayor include a crackdown on drinking alcohol on public transport (the introduction of which was greeted with a near-riot) and cancelling an anti-racist festival, much to the annoyance of trade unions. Johnson’s mayoralty has also been notable for the recessionary cancellation of many transport projects set in place by his predecessor, ostensibly denying many poorer areas of the capital much needed investment. However, he did dismantle the capital’s ill-fated PPP scheme of part-privatisation of the London Underground. Inevitably during the summer week of riots in August 2011 contrasts were made with his predecessor’s steady handling of the 2005 London bombings, whereas Johnson was ostensibly caught napping while refusing to cut short his holidays to return to the burning capital. Local residents affected by the looting and chaos initially heckled the mayor as he attempted a walkabout in the city.

The mayor’s demands for the Conservative-led coalition government to abandon its plans to cut police numbers in the capital in response to the riots were accused of stage-managed bluster by opponents, pointing to the dispensation given by his party colleagues in UK government who are aware of the mayor’s electoral strategy to distance himself from their actions. The mayor’s public persona is well-honed and his speeches can be electrifying, even for sceptics. But it was Boris’ deft stewardship of the 2012 Games which saw his star ascend to hitherto unseen levels, justifying the claim of ‘Boris mania’ as even mishaps on zip-wires saw his brand propelled. Unusually for a politician, certainly in the UK, Boris passes both the ‘Madonna test’ (no surname necessary) and the 'Simpsons test’ (recognisable in silhouette alone) and has attained a rockstar-like level of public support, evidenced by crowds chanting his name during the Olympics celebrations. Even at a time when the Conservative brand has regressed back to its unenviable taint of cuts and economic hardship, Boris’ mayoral star and lustre shows little sign of waning.

Whether the fleeting euphoria of Games time and the mayor’s popular media stunts can assume their own momentum for a post-mayoral career in national high office remains to be seen however. The mayor himself has certainly sought to pour cold water on the idea through continuous denials that a “prat on a wire” could ever be seen as statesman material. The media however, have their own ideas. Mayor Johnson is married to Marina Wheeler, a barrister and daughter of the journalist Sir Charles Wheeler, and they have four children, Theodore Apollo, Milo Arthur, Lara Lettice and Cassia Peaches. Johnson was previously married to the socialite Allegra Mostyn-Owen, whom he met at university. Johnson is the author of one novel, Seventy-Two Virgins, an account of his 2001 election campaign Friends, Voters, Countrymen, and three collections of journalism, Johnson's Column, Lend Me Your Ears and Have I Got Views For You. The mayor has been the subject of some criticism for his failure to give up his many media commitments, including his £250,000 a year newspaper column, despite holding public office.

What happened when Boris Johnson and mayors from the world’s major cities got together in London? | The Independent World Politics What happened when Boris Johnson and mayors from the world’s major cities got together in London? Over croissants and coffee, the mayors of the world's most influential cities met to discuss what they might (and might not) learn from each other Monday 19 October 2015 18:37 BST Click to follow Indy Politics Boris Johnson: A mayor Getty When conversation turned to Boris Johnson's prime ministerial ambitions, as it inevitably does wherever he sits still long enough to drown the question in wit, the Mayor of London said his chances were “about as good as being blinded by a champagne cork”. Which seemed like a dangerously plausible event for a man of considerable means who also likes a drink. The former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, who shared a sofa with Boris at a peculiar event in central London yesterday, was more literal about his own talked-up presidential prospects. “I couldn't win,” the billionaire Republican philanthropist told an audience in London that included an odd jumble of mayors (or a “magnificence”, as the internet suggests).

Boris Johnson piles more pressure on Osborne to soften tax credit cuts The at times combative exchange, hosted by think-tanker and Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson, kicked off CityLab 2015, a high-level, highly funded talking shop for “urban innovators”. More than a dozen mayors from conurbations as diverse as Accra and Warsaw gathered around pastry platters and a giant Nespresso machine at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel. Speakers also included the architect Zaha Hadid, and David Bradley, the chairman of Atlantic Media, which staged the event alongside Bloomberg and Isaacson's Aspen Institute. But Boris/Bloomberg was the big ticket. And wealth emerged as a theme during a bout of mayoral willy-waving in response to a question about the rivalry between their cities. Muriel Bowser “You're much less likely to be murdered in London,” boasted Boris, who was born in New York and, he lamented, has to pay tax in the US as a result. Bruised, Bloomberg bigged up his city's more open approach to wealth and failure. “It's a mindset,” he said.

“If you try and you fail and try again and fail, your family brags about 'our son Joe who's started three businesses'. Elsewhere, you call him a failure.” “As a conservative politician I know all about failure,” Johnson told Bloomberg. He admitted to being jealous of America's “lack of embarrassment about accumulating titanic sums of money… there's a problem in the British psyche still about that.” Bloomberg has an estimated personal fortune of $40bn (£26bn) Isaacson had asked the men why city halls increasingly seemed to produce contenders for higher office. Bloomberg, who ran New York for almost 10 years until 2013, frequently rejects calls to step up to the White House. “Because you can see what mayors do,” he said. “If there's a body in the street, you blame the mayor. If the trash isn't picked up, blame the mayor… We want executives to make decisions but the people at the head of these governments are policy people. They look good, but the truth is you have to be able to run the railroad.” Read more Boris Johnson warns low immigration could stall economic growth Mingling afterwards, mayors found common ground across multiple divides.

Bloomberg and Boris had clashed over Uber, the controversial taxi app (Boris sided with the old black cab drivers; Bloomberg championed the free market). Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, the mayor of Warsaw, said her city of just 1.7 million was having the same debate after Uber's arrival last year. But her priority was to complete the city's second underground line, plans for which were drawn up decades ago. Mayoral jamborees were useful, she added, explaining how a similiar event had inspired her to adopt a version of Bloomberg's 311 city information channel. Alfred Oko Vanderpuije has overground priorities in Accra, the booming Ghanaian capital, where he has been mayor since 2009. He will soon launch the city's first network of express buses. “This is something I picked up by talking to other mayors,” he says. “In the first two years of my mayorship I came to London, to Bogota and South Africa.” Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser was looking for inspiration to solve what must be the biggest challenge for all the mayors in the room – “to lessen the gaps between the haves and the have-nots”.

For the left-leaning mayor of Bologna, Virginio Merola, diversity was also key. “We have around 120 different nationalities in my city,” he said via a translator. “We are very engaged in making this an opportunity for growth.” Giorgos Kaminis, whose intray as mayor of Athens is fuller than a rush-hour train out of St Pancras, said he didn't know yet what practical benefits he was going to take away from London. But he was most struck by the interview with Johnson and Bloomberg, not least “how Boris avoided the question of if he's going to run for the leadership of the Conservative Party”. More about: Benjamin Barber: Being an MP will be a step down for Mayor Boris Johnson | London Evening Standard Comment Benjamin Barber: Being an MP will be a step down for Mayor Boris Johnson London’s Mayor is one of a new breed of city leaders around the world who wield real power. Will he miss it?

Monday 11 August 2014 10:55 BST Click to follow The Evening Standard Commons man: the Mayor at City Hall last week, where he announced his intention to stand as an MP (Picture: Daniel Hambury) Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures Boris Johnson is probably running for Parliament and presumably for higher posts beyond. But is this a move up the ladder or down? Will leaving City Hall for the Commons increase or diminish his political power? In the traditional view of things it’s obviously a step up. But given the new role cities have assumed as effective players in an interdependent world where national governments are in crisis, it could be a step down. For cities are succeeding where states are failing, and inter-city networking is making waves while international affairs are a Sargasso Sea of inertia. The bottom line is that municipalities are solving problems where nations are creating them. Boris himself has shown that cities are governable where states are not; that mayors today, whether defined by weak or strong executive regimes, are able and pragmatic governors, whereas national politicians are beset by ideological polarisation and bureaucratic elephantitis.

Making a fetish of their archaic “independence,” nation states invite unsavoury rivalry with other nation states. For the UK this means lacerating uncertainty about whether to stay with or disdain Europe and the threat of Scottish secession. The transactional inclinations of cities, on the other hand, impel them to co-operate, as they are doing in the C-40 Climate Cities, which has made more progress in curbing climate change than nation states. Ideology notwithstanding, Mayor Johnson has given London a green tint with Boris Bikes, congestion fees and the work of the C-40, headquartered in a Bloomberg building. There are multiple reasons why cities work and states don’t, reasons I explore in my book If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities. More than half the world’s population now live in cities, 78 per cent in the developed world. Cities create up to 80 per cent of GDP and pay the lion’s share of taxes (which they do not see returned to them). Cities are built at crossroads of trade, culture and commerce and thus are multicultural, open, pluralistic and creative.

Unlike nation states, whose sovereignty makes adversaries of their neighbours, cities are defined by an urbanity that is non-territorial. If Germany gets bigger, Poland necessarily gets smaller. It’s a zero-sum game. But both Berlin and Warsaw can flourish to their mutual advantage. This is why London has more in common with Tokyo, New York and São Paulo that it does with Great Britain. And why Johnson has more in common with his predecessor, Ken Livingstone, or the progressive Bill de Blasio in New York than with his fellow conservative Angela Merkel in Germany. There is something else about a city Boris understands: it is not just another abstract level of government, but the quintessential human community. Cities are us: they are where we are born, grow up, are educated, work, get married, have children. The city is also where the real mission of government is made manifest: to provide a setting where conflicts can be settled peacefully and common goals pursued effectively. Transport, clean water and air, health and education, police and fire services, access to housing and jobs — these are not parochial interests of the locality but the essential services that define our need for government.

No wonder the attack on “big government” usually addresses distant national governments locked in paralysing ideological struggles. No wonder you can close the Federal Government in Washington, DC (it has happened twice recently) and nobody notices. But just try to close London or New York, Bristol or Memphis, and see what happens. Cities never close. So mayors like Boris Johnson do not have the luxury of standing on ideological principle while the city comes to a halt: they have to compromise and cooperate and forge public/private partnerships until the rubbish is collected, the roads are mended and the schools are running. Maybe that’s why mayors remain the only public officials in the Western world who still score 70 or 75 per cent trust ratings, while national politicians fall below 40 per cent. But here’s the rub: the qualities that make Johnson popular, reaching parts the Tory leadership cannot, are qualities associated with his mayoralty, for which his idiosyncratic demeanour is so suited. And these qualities are unlikely to survive Westminster politics. Even as he announced his intention to stand last week Boris began lambasting Ed Miliband.

Gone was the self-described “anarcho-Tory”, biking to work on behalf of fellow Londoners: at the microphone stood a conventional politician already tilting right to prove his Tory credentials, credentials of so little relevance to governing London. The real question for Boris will be whether he can use what he has learned about being Mayor — the pragmatism, the indifference to party cant, the commitment to solving real problems — to help transform national politics. Or whether the ideological rigidities will transform him back into a just another politician. There may be a reason why, over nearly 250 years, no mayor of a major American city has ever risen to the presidency. Because governing cities is about getting things done, while governing countries is about talking about why you can’t do things. Because sermonising and pragmatism don’t mix, and picking up the rubbish requires more than handing down a White Paper. Boris Johnson has been a remarkable mayor, despite the limits on his power. But he will make a remarkable national figure only if he finds a way to approach England as if it were a mega-city: with pragmatism, non-partisanship and creativity. Only if he can change politics before it changes him.

Benjamin Barber is senior research scholar at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. A new and updated paperback edition of If Mayors Ruled the World is published next week by Yale University Press. BBC NEWS | Programmes | Politics Show | London Mayor's profile London Mayor's profile By Paola Buonadonna The Politics Show The eyes of the nation may well be on Boris Johnson this week, as the new Mayor sharpens his pencils and arranges the family photos on his desk at City Hall. Boris Johnson will get his feet under the Mayoral desk But is the rest of the world taking any notice? One of the most famous Mayor in the world is Rudolph Giuliani; thanks to New York's iconic appeal people across the word got to hear about his 'zero tolerance' stance on crime. Even after he had stepped down, millions saw him on television incessantly in the aftermath of 9/11. Such was Giuliani's exposure that he did persuaded himself, wrongly as it turns out, that he could take the White House. But could Ken now run for president, (or, more controversially, be England's manager)? And will Boris ever be a household name in Palm Springs, Calcutta or Lima?

I asked a very unscientific sample of international contacts, all long-time London residents, who came up with interesting, often conflicting insightsï¿½ Alessio Altichieri, London correspondent for many years for Italy's most prestigious daily, Corriere Della Sera, remembers interviewing Ken Livingstone early on in his first campaign and finding him "very funny and very irreverent". His interview, in which "Mr Livingstone criticised everybody", was reprised by several British newspapers. Altichieri added: "Rudolph Giuliani became famous as Mayor of New York, because of the platform that job gave him. "In London's case it's the opposite. Livingstone's unique character 'made' the job what it is and gave it the profile that it has. "Johnson is actually very similar to Livingstone in this respect: they're not great administrators, neither of them, both have the personality to give the city of London a huge boost." Next I caught up with Dr Karen Smith, an American-born lecturer in European Affairs at the London School of Economics, after she got back from a visit to New York. "The mayoral race has been widely covered over there," she told me.

"Both the New York Times and the New Yorker have run profiles of the two main candidates. The city has been looking closely at London's congestion charge and Livingstone profile is extremely high because of that but also because of the successful Olympic bid and then, the next day, the London bombings. "I'd say the profile you have is a mixture between the personality and drive of the person doing it, but also the platform offered by the job itself." Others I spoke to agreed that whoever speaks for London is going to have the attention of a world audience, in no small part because London itself is a miniature world stage. "London is so much more international than New York or Paris," said Stephane Rambosson, a French investment banker who works in the City. "Just the 400.00 French residents make it the sixth biggest French city. You have thousands of Americans and now Eastern Europeans. Running London is a very big job and is definitely a full time job. "How will Boris fit in the role? Well, he is young, he is ambitious and he will want to use the job as a platform for higher office.

But first he has to actually do the job and do it well." Brian O'Connell, London Editor of the Irish TV and radio network RTE had a very different view, one which might offer some comfort to the outgoing Mayor. "Ken Livingstone has had a high profile in Ireland for years, "he said," because he was one of the few MPs who were interested in Northern Ireland before it became fashionable and one of the first to say that we needed to talk to Sinn Fein. "He is the only British politician apart from Blair and Brown that the average Irish person could name and this is the only reason there was so much coverage of the 2000 and 2004 mayoral elections. "Now Ken's gone the profile of the London Mayor will fade as far as Ireland is concerned, although I suppose it all depends on what Boris gets up to at the time of the Olympics." The Politics Show, with Jon Sopel on Sunday 04 May 2008 at 12:00 GMT on BBC One. What do you think? You can use the form below to e-mail the programme.

Send us your comments: "Being an MP Will Be a Step Down for Mayor Boris; London's Mayor Is One of a New Breed of City Leaders around the World Who Wield Real Power. Will He Miss It?" - The Evening Standard (London, England), August 11, 2014 | Online Research Library: Questia Article excerpt Byline: Benjamin Barber BORIS Johnson is probably running for Parliament and presumably for higher posts beyond. But is this a move up the ladder or down? Will leaving City Hall for the Commons increase or diminish his political power? In the traditional view of things it's obviously a step up. But given the new role cities have assumed as effective players in an interdependent world where national governments are in crisis, it could be a step down. For cities are succeeding where states are failing, and inter-city networking is making waves while international affairs are a Sargasso Sea of inertia. The bottom line is that municipalities are solving problems where nations are creating them. Boris himself has shown that cities are governable where states are not; that mayors today, whether defined by weak or strong executive regimes, are able and pragmatic governors, whereas national politicians are beset by ideological polarisation and bureaucratic elephantitis.

Making a fetish of their archaic "independence," nation states invite unsavoury rivalry with other nation states. For the UK this means lacerating uncertainty about whether to stay with or disdain Europe and the threat of Scottish secession. The transactional inclinations of cities, on the other hand, impel them to cooperate, as they are doing in the C-40 Climate Cities, which has made more progress in curbing climate change than nation states. Ideology notwithstanding, Mayor Johnson has given London a green tint with Boris Bikes, congestion fees and the work of the C-40, headquartered in a Bloomberg building. There are multiple reasons why cities work and states don't, reasons I explore in my book If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities. More than half the world's population now live in cities, 78 per cent in the developed world. Cities create up to 80 per cent of GDP and pay the lion's share of taxes (which they do not see returned to them). Cities are built at crossroads of trade, culture and commerce and thus are multicultural, open, pluralistic and creative.

Unlike nation states, whose sovereignty makes adversaries of their neighbours, cities are defined by an urbanity that is non-territorial. If Germany gets bigger, Poland necessarily gets smaller. It's a zero-sum game. But both Berlin and Warsaw can flourish to their mutual advantage. This is why London has more in common with Tokyo, New York and Sao Paulo that it does with Great Britain. And why Johnson has more in common with his predecessor, Ken Livingstone, or the progressive Bill de Blasio in New York than with his fellow conservative Angela Merkel in Germany. There is something else about a city Boris understands: it is not just another abstract level of government, but the quintessential human community. Cities are us: they are where we are born, grow up, are educated, work, get married, have children. The city is also where the real mission of government is made manifest: to provide a setting where conflicts can be settled peacefully and common goals pursued effectively. Transport, clean water and air, health and education, police and fire services, access to housing and jobs -- these are not parochial interests of the locality but the essential services that define our need for government.

… Subscribe to Questia and enjoy: Full access to this article and over 10 million more from academic journals, magazines, and newspapers Over 83,000 books Access to powerful writing and research tools Article details Newspapers Encyclopedia 'Stop buying Home Counties schlosses': Boris Johnson rattles super-wealthy with plea for greater philanthropy | The Independent 'Stop buying Home Counties schlosses': Boris Johnson rattles super-wealthy with plea for greater philanthropy Mayor of New York says Britain had yet to catch up with American idea of large-scale giving Tuesday 24 September 2013 12:07 BST Click to follow Indy Politics Boris Johnson (left) the Mayor of London and Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York, at the launch of the Mayors Challenge in Europe at City Hall in London PA Boris Johnson launched an extraordinary attack against Britain's super-rich today, saying they ignored philanthropy in favour of buying "colossal grouse moorland" and "great schlosses in the Home Counties".

In a speech that will disgruntle Tory grandees - and their grouse-farming, Home Country-dwelling supporters - the Mayor of London said rich Britons were too preoccupied with passing on "the biggest possible house" to their children to invest in good causes. Speaking at the launch of a competition for innovation in European cities, funded through the philanthropy of New York mayor, Michael Bloomberg, Mr Johnson said that Britain had yet to catch up with the American idea of large-scale giving. "I think it's a cultural thing", he said. "The trouble with the people in this country is - and I'll get myself in terrible trouble here - but what they really want to do when they've amassed colossal wealth in Britain, what they like to do is buy the biggest possible house they can, with the most colossal grouse moorland they can find and then try in some desperate way to perpetuate it and to pass it on to their children, for some unknown reason. In America they have a different attitude.

They believe that if you've made a lot of money you should do something for society." He continued: "There's still something in Britain that regards giving away on a huge scale as being somehow ostentatious and that is absolutely ridiculous and the sooner people get over their lust to buy great schlosses in the Home Counties - or indeed grouse moors - and give to great causes in London, the better." Interrupting Mr Johnson's rant, Mayor Bloomberg said: "For the record, I've been reasonably successful but I've never wanted to buy a grouse moor," to which Johnson replied: "That's right. But that is the tragedy of how it works in this country, and bully for you." The London Mayor was speaking at the launch of Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge, a competition to inspire European cities to generate ideas to improve city life. The competition will award £4.2 million for the main prize-winner and one million for four additional cities that come up with the best ideas.

Mr Johnson said London's entries into the competition might include the ultra-low emission zone set to come in by 2020, barring any vehicle with an internal combustion engine, and aquatic village proposals he called a "Venice in the docks". London and New York's mayors were joined at the news conference in London's City Hall by the Mayor of Warsaw, Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, and Florence Mayor Matteo Renzi. The competition, which is similar to one conducted in America last year, invites leaders of European cities with 100,000 residents or more to submit their city's "boldest idea". Around 600 cities around Europe are eligible to apply. In a defence of his own philanthropy, Mr Bloomberg said: "There are some places in Europe where they look down on private philanthropy, arguing it takes away the responsibility of the Government.

I think that's misguided because the government should do conventional things with the public's money, but society needs innovation and risk-takers and that's where private philanthropy fits in." Tory demesnes: To the manor born Boris Johnson In a convenient memory lapse, Boris Johnson seems to have forgotten the sizeable estate that he and his siblings will inherit from his parents. His father Stanley Johnson inherited the 500-acre farm in the Exe Valley from his father, who bought it in 1951. Now Boris’s sister, Rachel Johnson, who edits The Lady, also has a cottage in the grounds. As well as a north London town house worth several million pounds, Boris himself has a former farmhouse in Oxfordshire that he bought for almost £750,000 in 2003. Richard Benyon A minister in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, who recently advised people to save more leftovers, Mr Benyon is set to inherit a country pile with an 8,000-acre grouse moor attached. He was valued at £110m by The Times.

He is the son of Sir William Benyon, a former Tory MP who owns the 20,000-acre Englefield Estate in Berkshire (above left), who is said to be worth £125m. Iain Duncan Smith The man who dreamt up the bedroom tax knows all about inheriting Home County piles. He lives rent-free in his father-in-law’s £2m Tudor house in a sprawling Buckinghamshire estate. It has at least five bedrooms, a swimming pool, tennis courts and acres of land. David Cameron The Prime Minister likes to downplay his privileged background, but he and his wife Samantha’s fortune has previously been estimated at £30m. They own a £1m country home in Oxfordshire and a £1.5m north Kensington house which they rent out, but their real wealth is likely to come from inheritance. Emily Dugan and Jochan Embley More about: Sterling Hits 7-Year US$ Low Over 'Brexit' But Is A 'Currency Run' Looming? Sterling Hits 7-Year US$ Low Over 'Brexit' But Is A 'Currency Run' Looming?

{{article.article.images.featured.caption}} Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Full Bio The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer. Loading ... Loading ... This story appears in the {{article.article.magazine.pretty_date}} issue of {{article.article.magazine.pubName}}. Subscribe With New York-born Boris Johnson, Tory MP and incumbent Mayor of London, coming out to back a British exit ( ‘Brexit’ ) from the European Union (EU) over the weekend could the Pound (Sterling) come under further downward pressure against the US dollar? It’s certainly a possibility and has happened before. But how much lower could it go? With the date now set - in four months’ time for June 23 the referendum - for the citizens of the UK to vote on whether to stay or leave the EU, the foreign exchange markets are forecast to see some dramatic moves. And, ‘Cable’ (GBP/USD) and the Sterling rate to the euro (EUR) could well become extremely volatile depending on the final outcome - ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ - to remaining. It’s a conundrum.

And, it all rather reminds me of the rock song, ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go’, by English punk group The Clash. The lines ‘If I go there will be trouble…An’ if I stay it will be double', might seem appropriate here. British Minister David Cameron must be wondering what he's let out of the bag, especially with many his own party's senior MP's queuing up to leave the EU. The PM even ridiculed the Mayor of London in the House of Commons at Westminster with a few jibes. A one Pound Sterling coin sits in front of a British five pound banknote in this arranged photograph in London, U.K., on Tuesday, February 9, 2016. The pound has been falling versus the US dollar since mid 2015 and reached an almost seven-year low of $1.4080 on January 21 this year. (Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg). Markets have previously seen the Pound pressured at times of economic and political stress.

Take, for example, when Hungarian-born investor George Soros became the man who ‘broke’ the Bank of England in the Black Wednesday UK currency crisis back in 1992 by shorting $10 billion (bn) worth of Pounds - netting a cool $1bn profit in the process. This is of course, when the then British Chancellor, Norman Lamont, was attempting to hold Sterling at a certain trading range within the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), a system introduced by the European Economic Community in March 1979. It was devised as part of the European Monetary System to reduce exchange rate stability in preparation to the euro’s introduction (1 January 1999). Over the past 12-months the British Pound has been trending down against the greenback - from a high of $1.58798 reached on 19 June 2015 to today’s current rate of $1.41298. That equates to a decline of around 11%. It had even touched a low of sub $1.41 on 22 February 2016.

In fact today marked the 35th worst trading day for Sterling against the greenback. But we can also cite 1976 when Britain went hand in cap to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that September under the Labour government and Chancellor Denis Healey for a $3.9bn loan to aid its finances. At the time it was the biggest bailout of an IMF-member country. That crisis event has become etched in the British political memory. The times and economic circumstances though are very different from forty years ago, but the currency brokers were then certainly on the war path speculating on the Pound - pushing it down from levels above the $2.20 mark to around $1.67 in a matter of months before the IMF loan deal. British Labour politicians who were concerned over speculators on the Pound and it negatively impacting the UK economy, even famously dubbed Swiss bankers the 'Gnomes of Zurich' . These days it won’t be just the Swiss betting for or against Sterling, but the whole world using high frequency trading techniques. And, in a blink of eye the British currency could be trashed. Well, in micro- and macro-seconds.

And, by that the time ordinary folk won’t have a chance to react. What then might the scenario be? If Cable’s rate were to fall to sub $1.40 levels, might the Bank of England be forced to take urgent action to defend the currency. If it fell too low would an emergency meeting be held to consider raising interest rates? Perhaps this might be drunken speculation, but if that did come to pass it would rock the UK’s housing market as sure as eggs is eggs. In recent weeks it was revealed that the UK central bank has squirrelled away currency reserves of almost $100bn to use to defend Sterling, the fourth most traded currency in the foreign market, in the event of a Brexit. The currency itself accounts for a daily share just shy of 12% of the world's forex trading total - behind the Japanese Yen (3rd), the euro (2nd) and the US dollar (1st). They would probably need that to prop up the Pound, but one wonders if even $100bn be enough.

Of course now that the market knows how much Bank of England has in its coffers to defend the Pound, will they now be plotting to bring down the ‘Old Lady of Threadneedle Street’ ? It’s a bit like signalling risk in trading stocks: once you know someone has a position and has flagged it up then it can become harder to liquidate at the price ideally the seller wants. US bulge-bracket investment firm Goldman Sachs also warned earlier this February that the currency could fall by up to 20% in the event of a ‘Brexit’ actually happening in June. Their estimates suggested that a ‘Yes’ vote by Brits to leave the EU could potentially result in a short-term drop in trade-weighted Sterling of 15%-20%. That would mean the currency tanking to a range of $1.15-$1.20 from the mid-$1.45’s around 3-4 February 2016 time. But now the rate is even lower.

On the euro front, their analysis implied the European Single Currency moving up towards 90p-95p (£0.90-£0.95) - from around the 75p-mark (£0.75). Somewhat concerning and I wonder if Bank of England Governor Mark Carney is taking note. Dangerous 'Uncertainty Factor' Over Referendum Rajesh Agrawal, CEO and Founder of RationalFX , the UK’s first online FX brokering company and Xendpay , the world’s first free money transfer company, commenting says: “The decline in the value of the pound today is further evidence of the dangerous uncertainty factor surrounding this referendum for the British economy. This is just a small taste of what we should expect if Britain actually votes to leave.” He adds: “Even the strongest advocates for ‘Brexit’ admit that leaving the European Union (EU) is risky in the short to medium term, and at best a gamble in the long run.

Voters will need to weigh this up as they make their choice.” Some who vote to leave may be well satisfied what that outcome being achieved brings, but I’m not so sure if they will be so happy if imported good costs 15%-20% more. Nor will homeowners in the UK be so enamoured if the impact leads to higher interest rates and mortgage payments. As the Chinese proverb says ‘Be careful what you wish for’. And, indeed they might just get it. Beyond all the noise and hype over remaining or not in the EU, the British people need to have all the facts and figures to hand to make an informed decision. Not some front-page splash - as I saw late last November in a well-known UK tabloid, which suggested hundreds of thousands of jobs in The City of London would be lost were Britain to exit Europe. It had no single hard figure to back up the claims. And, the best analysis on that I have to date is an exhaustive study from EU-think tank Open Europe .

In a weighty 200-page study, which explored various industry sectors including financial, its analysts in London and Canadian capital Ottawa headed up by international trade and financial specialist, Dan Ciuriak , put the ‘best case’ scenario of a Brexit on the UK economy (and fails to strike a deal with the EU or reverts into protectionism) at +1.6% to GDP by 2030, with the ‘worse case’ being -2.2% to GDP by that same point in time. The authors of the report nevertheless added that a “far more realistic range” was between a 0.8% permanent loss to GDP in 2030 and a 0.6% permanent gain in GDP in 2030, in scenarios where "Britain mixes policy approaches." Despite their extensive modelling, the Open Europe and Ciuriak Consulting team noted that there were “some certain variables” that could not be modelled, but it was as near to damn it. So, one might say the jury is still out as to the merits of staying in or out. How it all plays out on the value of Sterling on the FX markets will nevertheless be interesting over the next few months.

Roll on June and the referendum. Former New York City Mayor Bloomberg to endorse Hillary Clinton: NYT - AOL News Former New York City Mayor Bloomberg to endorse Hillary Clinton: NYT Before you go, we thought you'd like these... Share Jul 24th 2016 1:34PM WASHINGTON, July 24 (Reuters) - Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg plans to endorse Hillary Clinton in a prime time address at the Democratic convention, the New York Times reported on Sunday. Citing Bloomberg's adviser Howard Wolfson, the newspaper said that he plans to make the case for Clinton from the "perspective of a business leader and an independent." Bloomberg, who was previously elected as a Republican and later became an independent, has been sharply critical of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump . See more of Bloomberg through the years: 46 PHOTOS Michael Bloomberg through the years See Gallery Michael Bloomberg through the years Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks during the C40 cities awards ceremony, in Paris, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015. The C40 cities awards recognize cities for their leadership in tackling climate change across key sectors.

(AP Photo/Thibault Camus) 344913 02: Bloomberg L.P. founder and CEO Michael Bloomberg poses for a portrait November 2, 1998 in the training room at his offices in New York City. (Photo by Chris Casaburi/Getty Images) UNITED STATES - CIRCA 2000: Republican mayoral candidate Michael Bloomberg samples a slice of life at Francesco's Pizzeria on Third Ave. in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. (Photo by Linda Rosier/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images) UNITED STATES - CIRCA 2000: Republican mayoral candidate Michael Bloomberg talks to passersby while campaigning at Broadway and W. 225th St. (Photo by David Handschuh/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images) UNITED STATES - CIRCA 2001: Republican mayoral candidate Michael Bloomberg exchanges high-fives with 7-year-old Matthew DePoalo while campaigning on Ditmars Blvd. in Astoria.

(Photo by Andrew Savulich/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images) 388464 18: Michael Bloomberg of Bloomberg News Service hosts a party before attending the annual White House Correspondents Dinner, April 28, 2001 in Washington DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Newsmakers) NEW YORK, UNITED STATES: Michael Bloomberg, Republican candidate for New York mayor, speaks to the press in Brooklyn, New York, 26 September 2001. Bloomberg handsomely won the 25 September New York mayoral primary election to be the official Republican party candidate to replace New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani on January 1 next year, according to exit polls. AFP PHOTO Doug KANTER (Photo credit should read DOUG KANTER/AFP/Getty Images) UNITED STATES - OCTOBER 26: Republican mayoral candidate Michael Bloomberg meets with the Daily News editorial board. (Photo by Pat Carroll/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images) Mayoral candidate Michael Bloomberg leaves the polling booth at PS 6 in Manhattan, NY. (Photo by Jennifer S.

Altman/WireImage) 399131 02: Michael Bloomberg, the108th Mayor of the City of New York, gives his inaugural address January 1, 2002 at City Hall in New York City. (Photo by Getty Images) UNITED STATES - CIRCA 2002: Mayor Michael Bloomberg chats with diners at the International House of Pancakes at 135th St. and Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. in Harlem, where he picked up the endorsement of the Rev. Calvin Butts. (Photo by Craig Warga/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images) NEW YORK, UNITED STATES: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (C), and former New York Stock Exchange President William Johnston (R) listens to New York Stock Exchange Chairman Richard Grasso (R) on the bell podium before Bloomberg rang the opening bell to begin trading 02 January, 2002.

AFP PHOTO Henny Ray ABRAMS (Photo credit should read HENNY RAY ABRAMS/AFP/Getty Images) 399944 03: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks at the swearing in of over 300 probationary firefighters January 22, 2002 at the Fire Academy on Randalls Island in New York City. The new class is the second to enter the academy since the World Trade Center attack, when the department lost 343 firefighters. The probationary firefighters will begin physical training and classroom instruction before being sent out to firehouses around the city., (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) UNITED STATES - JANUARY 30: Mayor Michael Bloomberg makes his first State of the City address in the City Council chamber at City Hall. (Photo by Linda Rosier/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images) Mayor Michael Bloomberg cuts the ribbon to begin the opening of fall's Fashion Week in Bryant Park in Manhattan, NY. (Photo by Jennifer S. Altman/WireImage) UNITED STATES - FEBRUARY 09: Mayor Michael Bloomberg stands amidst fire officials during funeral of Fire Lt. Kevin Pfeifer at St. Margaret's Church in Middle Village, Queens.

Pfeifer, 42, who worked with Engine Co. 33 in lower Manhattan, was killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Bloomberg, attending his first firefighter funeral since taking office last month, eulogized the fallen hero and praised the bravery of all the firefighters who responded to the attacks. (Photo by Mike Albans/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images) 401921 01: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks at the unveiling of a fifty-foot high stainless steel tree by artist Roxy Paine March 5, 2002 in New York City's Central Park. The tree is one of five public artworks on display in Central Park sponsored by the Whitney Museum of American Art. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) NEW YORK, UNITED STATES: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg(L) and Attorney General John Ashcroft (R) look at memorial banners and posters in front of St. Paul's Chapel 09 April 2002 in New York City, before visiting ground zero at the site of the World Trade Center attacks.

AFP PHOTO/POOL/Kathy WILLENS (Photo credit should read KATHY WILLENS/AFP/Getty Images) 403191 02: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (C) and Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta (R) look on as a U.S. flag that once flew over Ground Zero is raised during a ceremony at City Hall Plaza April 1, 2002 in New York City. The flag was immortalized in a photograph by Thomas Franklin of three firefighters raising it amid the rubble of the World Trade Center after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on New York City. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) UNITED STATES - MAY 28: Mayor Michael Bloomberg addresses the Republican State Convention at the Sheraton New York Hotel on Seventh Ave. (Photo by Andrew Savulich/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images) NEW YORK - JUNE 14: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronauts Dominic Gorie (L) and Frank Culbertson (R) present an American flag to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (C) in honor of Flag Day June 14, 2002 in New York City.

The flag was found at Ground Zero, the location of the World Trade Center in New York, and was flown into space in December 2001 aboard the NASA Space Shuttle Endeavor. Culbertson was onboard the International Space Station September 11, 2001 when the terrorist attacks occurred in the U.S. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) NEW YORK - JULY 4: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg gets a Nathan's Famous hot dog after Takeru Kobayashi won Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island July 4, 2002 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Kobayashi, who won last year, set a new world record by eating 50 1/2 hot dogs in twelve minutes. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg adjusts his tie as girlfriend Diana Taylor, right, laughs while on the observation deck of the Empire State building, Monday, Nov. 7, 2005. The latest polls show the incumbent Republican mayor leading his Democratic challenger Fernando Ferrer by 38 points.

(AP Photo/Stephen Chernin) New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg greets supporters during a party for his election to a second term in New York, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2005. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg holds aloft "Alaska" the American Bald Eagle during the unveiling of Ireland's National Monument to the New York National Guard's 69th Infantry Regiment "the Fighting 69th" who fought with the Union forces in the American Civil War, and it's leader, Brigadier Michael Corcoran, in Ballymote, Ireland, Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2006. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison) Police Chief Ray Kelly, forth from left, listens in as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, center, speaks to reporters after a meeting with community leaders about a weekend shooting involving police. Police fired an estimated 50 rounds at Sean Bell, 23, and two other unarmed men in a car early Saturday, hours before he was to have married the mother of his two children.

(AP Photo/Kathy Willens) New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, left, is surrounded by press as he visits the 311 call center in New York, Wednesday, June 20, 2007. A day after quitting the Republican Party and registering as unaffiliated, Bloomberg continued to send mixed signals about his intentions, discussing both his mayoral term and vowing to address the major issues facing the country. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) Abdus Salam, center, watch as British leader David Cameron, left, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg eat hotdogs from his stand during Cameron's visit to the city during his first U.S. trip, Wednesday July 21, 2010, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, right, calls prospective voters in support of Rhode Island Independent gubernatorial candidate Lincoln Chafee, left, at the campaign headquarters in Warwick, R.I., Monday, Nov. 1, 2010.

(AP Photo/Stew Milne) New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, left, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy converse in front of the Statue of Liberty before taking part in a ceremony in anticipation of the 125th anniversary of the monument on Liberty Island, Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011 in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow) NEW YORK, NY - MAY 10: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (2nd R) speaks with an aide while announcing a new emergency notification system at a news conference overlooking Ground Zero on May 10, 2011 in New York City. Bloomberg, who was joined by politicians, federal officials and the heads of mobile phone companies, spoke of the system that will alert what to do in case of emergency to anyone with an 'enabled' mobile device within range of a cell phone tower. Part of a law passed by Congress five years ago, the service is scheduled to be available in New York City and Washington, D.C. by the end of the year and is expected in the rest of the country by mid-2012.

(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 07: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) speaks at a press conference as construction continues at the World Trade Center site on September 7, 2011 in New York City. The National September 11 Memorial & Museum will feature two reflecting pools on the footprints of the twin towers. The memorial is scheduled to be dedicated on September 11, 2011, the tenth anniversary of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, left, holds the Halas Trophy, while New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, center, holds the Vince Lombardi Trophy as New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, right, waves to the crowd during a ticker-tape parade celebrating the team's NFL football Super Bowl XLVI championship, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012, in New York. The Giants beat the New England Patriots 21-17 on Sunday, Feb. 5, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Mayor Michael Bloomberg surveys the damage to a passenger ferry after it crashed on Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013 in New York.

At least 57 people were injured, two critically, when a commuter ferry struck a dock in New York City's financial district, ripping open a right-side front corner. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 02: (L-R) Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel participate in a forum about education in big cities at the Katzen Arts Center on the campus of American University March 2, 2012 in Washington, DC. Calling their municipalities 'city-states,' the mayors suppored the idea of individual school districts being able to compete with states for the $4.35 billion 'Race to the Top' grant program created by President Barack Obama. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks at a gun violence summit at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Monday, Jan. 14, 2013, where he outlined his proposals for federal gun control reforms. Bloomberg urged President Barack Obama and Congress to increase background check requirements for firearms purchases, and also said the federal government needs to get tougher on gun trafficking.

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 31: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (C) rings the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange on the first day of opening since Hurricane Sandy October 31, 2012 in New York City. The storm has claimed several dozen lives in the United States and has caused massive flooding across much of the Atlantic seaboard. U.S. President Barack Obama has declared the situation a 'major disaster' for large areas of the U.S. east coast, including New York City, with widespread power outages and significant flooding in parts of lower Manhattan and elsewhere. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images) Mayor Michael Bloomberg, right, and artist Ugo Rondinone are framed in the in the rock sculpture "Human Nature," as they react during a press conference on Monday, April 22, 2013 in New York. Rondinone, a Swiss-born and New York based artist, created a public art installation of nine colossal human-shaped figures made of rough bluestone, that will transform New York's Rockefeller Plaza for seven weeks.

(AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 12: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg holds a large cup as he speaks to the media about the health impacts of sugar at Lucky's restaurant, which voluntarily adopted the large sugary drink ban, March 12, 2013 in New York City. A state judge on Monday blocked Bloomberg's ban on oversized sugary drinks but the Mayor plans to appeal the decision. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images) New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, left, and Democratic mayoral hopeful Bill de Blasio attend a 9/11 Memorial ceremony Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2013, marking the 12th anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. (AP Photo/Adrees Latif, Pool) NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 06: New York City Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio speaks with outgoing Mayor Michael Bloomberg at City Hall on November 6, 2013 in New York City. It was the first meeting between the two since de Blasio's election victory the day before.

(Photo by John Moore/Getty Images) CORRECTS LEFT TO RIGHT From right, Florence Mayor Matteo Renzi, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, London Mayor Boris Johnson, and Warsaw Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, during the Mayors Challenge competition, at City Hall in London, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2013. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is offering European cities millions of dollars to be government groundbreakers, tapping his personal fortune to extend his cities-as-civic-laboratories campaign overseas as the end of his own tenure nears. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) New York City Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio, left, join Mayor Michael Bloomberg for a meeting in the "Bull Pen," the mayor's main City Hall office, on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013, in New York. De Blasio, the public advocate, was trouncing Republican rival Joe Lhota 73 to 24 percent in incomplete, unofficial returns that were on pace to post one of the largest routs in the history of the nation's largest city.

(AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 19: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks at a press conference with United States Secretary for Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan (not seen), unveiling a Hurricane Sandy Recovery Report on August 19, 2013 in the Greenpoint neighborhood of the Brooklyn Borough of New York City. The report calls for strengthening the region's electrical grid, reinforcing coastline and protecting gas supplies. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images) FILE - In this Jan. 27, 2016 file photo, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg talks with diplomats at U.N. headquarters. By wide margins, Americans of all ideologies say they have no interest in voting Bloomberg into the White House, suggesting that the billionaire media mogul would have significant headwinds should he mount a third-party bid for president. Just 7 percent of registered voters say theyâd definitely vote for him, while 29 percent say theyâd consider it, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) Up Next

Question: In which city was London Mayor, Boris Johnson born ? Was it New York, Calcutta or Warsaw ?
Answer: NEW YORK