Brian Coleman : The next Mayor of London?

A good friend of mine, who is fairly high up in a South London Conservative Association told me that our good friend, the Mayor of Barnet, Brian Coleman had said a very interesting thing. It seems that Mayor Coleman mentioned that he has one unfulfilled political ambition and that is to be the Mayor of London. Rather disbelievingly, I asked "Does that mean he's after Boris's job?" - I got a snigger and an "I couldn't possibly comment", then the subject was changed to the football.

Now my friend & I normally steer very clear of political debates, purely because we find football, music & Uma Thurman more interesting. I was a bit surprised by the revelation, so I decided to make a few enquirys. Lets just say that Mayor Coleman and myself are not on best of terms right now, so a simple phonecall seemed out of the question. If it was true, what would be the first thing he'd do? Registering a web domain would seem like a good move.

I typed in www.colemanformayor.com and it seems that someone had bought the domain name. I then tried www.colemanformayor.co.uk t hat was also reserved. I did some digging. The email address associated with the site is Brian Coleman's GLA address. The telephone number looks remarkably like his phonenumber. I assume that he's used an anonymous hosting company, but it is indisputably his site.

The domain name was originally reserved on 11 Sep 2002. It was last updated on 15 July 2008 and expires on 11 Sep 2010. As I understand it, web registrations last for 3 years. Boris was confirmed as Tory candidate on 27th September 2007 and Coleman wasn't in the race. It was crystal clear that Boris was a shoe in, by the 11th September. This means that on 11th September when he renewed the registration, he was planning ahead for next time.

Rather interestingly, Brian has been rather critical of Boris in the GLA, going as far as to suggest that he's out of kilter with mainstream Conservatism. It has been suggested to me that he's quite happy with all the press and TV coverage concerning our little spat, why else would he have been out on the tiles celebrating after? Why would he be so keen for his profile to be raised in such an undignified way, given that he has a safe council seat in Totteridge & the Tories think they will romp home next time?

As I can find no evidence that Brian Coleman, one of London's most high profile Tories ever made a shortlist for Mayor (and most surely he would have been near the top if he had tried, wouldn't he?), it has to be fair to asssume that he's been playing a long game.

Which leads me to the question - Did Boris give Brian Coleman the LEFPA job as part of the Tories succession plan. Does he plan to give Brian Coleman a shoe in in 2012, when he heads back to Parliament? Does he know about Brian Coleman's contempt for our nations sportsmen and women, does Boris really want to lumber us with Coleman as Mayor for the Olympics after so many gaffe's?

The second option is that Boris doesn't have a clue about Coleman's plans. Given that he really doesn't seem to know too much about what any of his "trusted" deputies are up to, this wouldn't surprise me. He doesn't realise that he's unwittingly helping Coleman to build up a platform to knife him.

Of course there's the third option that Brian Coleman absentmindedly registered the two sites, paid the renewals with no intention of ever standing.

Oh and before anyone suggests that it's related to his Mayoral role in Barnet, why are they both still holding pages if this was the case. If I was Boris and it wasn't part of my plan to become king with a crony as Mayor, I'd certainly start watching my back.