‘We needed Dave and George to lean on Boris’: Uber’s battle for London

The scale of Uber’s lobbying effort has only been made public through the Uber files. Composite: Guardian Design/Getty Images/AP

Uber was riding high in London in 2014. Two years after launching, the US private hire app had eaten into the business of black taxis and minicabs without huge political backlash.

But that spring, one of Uber’s main political fixers got in touch with its California HQ with some bad news about Boris Johnson, the London mayor.