A shadow has fallen over Metroland. It has an ample belly and a distinctive outline of carefully unkempt hair. If shadows had colour you wouldn’t need me to tell you this one is blond (but not dyed, it would insist pointedly). Poor Uxbridge and South Ruislip, what did it do to deserve this? The answer is: be a Conservative safe seat sat in by Boris Johnson.
His dramatic resignation last month has focused the eyes of the world (genuinely) on this patch of north-west London. The circus has come to town. Labour’s candidate, Danny Beales, has fielded (and rejected) requests from Le Monde, the New York Times, as well as German media. When I visit I can’t stop bumping into fellow journalists. But Johnson’s presence is a ghostly one. Even the man hoping to become his successor, Tory candidate Steve Tuckwell, has only had 30 seconds on the phone with the former PM. Johnson asked him if he’d read his Daily Mail column.
