Boris unleashed to pep up Tory campaign

Boris Johnson is fresh from a chaotic 90-minute walkabout in Ramsgate - a venture into the epicentre of Ukip election activity - and his blood is up. The London mayor is about to be unleashed into the national election campaign and is ready for a fight.

Until now Mr Johnson has been held in reserve by Tory high command, but his trip to South Thanet, the Kentish seaside constituency being fought by Nigel Farage, marks the beginning of an operation to add some Boris bombast to an otherwise flat Tory campaign.

After being jostled by placard-bearing Ukip supporters and pursued around Ramsgate harbour by a convoy of Ukip advertising trucks, Mr Johnson is clearly bursting to take on all-comers, including "namby pamby" critics of Tory negative campaigning.

In particular, the London mayor is winding himself up to lead the attacks on Ed Miliband, a politician who he says should "make the blood of every FT reader curdle". If he has so much to get off his chest, why has he been hidden away during the campaign so far?

Mr Johnson denies he has deliberately stayed away from the national campaign in an attempt to keep his hands clean if things go wrong. "It's not true," he says. "I'm a humble servant of the party organisation: they point me, I'll march."

The Tory battle plan has been devised by Lynton Crosby, the Tory campaign chief who masterminded Mr Johnson's two mayoral victories: "I'm Lynton's biggest fan," the mayor says.

But some supporters of Mr Johnson think he should have been deployed alongside David Cameron earlier in the campaign, rather than being sent to whip up Tory support in marginal seats, especially in London, largely out of sight of the national media.

Mr Johnson points out that he is also fighting to win a seat in parliament as the new MP for Uxbridge, but he will be deployed by Mr Crosby to appear in at least two big rallies with Mr Cameron before polling day - giving the impression of the late arrival of the cavalry.

He says there is nothing wrong with Mr Crosby's campaign plan, or his often negative style. "What's wrong with using a phrase like back-stabber?" he says, referring to the description of Ed Miliband by defence secretary Michael Fallon.

"I said putting the SNP in charge of the government of the UK would be like putting King Herod in charge of a baby farm," he adds. Using colourful language to flag up political danger is fine, he argues. "Have we all gone soft?"

Mr Johnson claims that the rise of the SNP in Scotland raises problems for the whole UK in the long-term. "We might have to think about other federal solutions and be more imaginative than we have been so far," he says.

The mayor is among those who has campaigned for greater fiscal autonomy for English cities - including London - while other Tories talk of expanding the concept of "English votes for English laws".

Mr Johnson rejects any role for the SNP in the governance of the UK. He also says he does not want to see the Conservative party "make arrangements with anyone" in a hung parliament, including Ukip.

After his visit to Ramsgate, promoting the campaign of Craig Mackinlay, local Tory candidate (and a Ukip founder), he insists that the vibe on the ground is that Ukip supporters are "starting to focus" on the election and are switching back to the Conservative camp.

In a town festooned with Ukip posters and jammed with lorries bearing Ukip advertisements, Mr Farage's own supporters privately admit that the contest with the Tories is "neck and neck". Labour claims it is also in with a chance.

Mr Johnson refuses to countenance a national Tory defeat on May 7 or to discuss his chances of succeeding David Cameron if the party fails: "David Cameron is our single greatest asset and he's going to to win," he says. "We've got to win this sodding election."

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