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Boris Johnson
Profile: Boris Johnson
Topical quiz show host, magazine editor, cyclist and frequent tabloid fodder. Conservative MP Boris Johnson has been all of those things but now he is focusing his efforts on winning one of the biggest jobs in UK politics: Mayor of London.
As Tory candidate, he faces a gruelling contest against Labour's incumbent, Ken Livingstone.
The question in many people's minds is whether this most colourful of politicians could withstand the scrutiny involved and stay "on message" for the next seven months.
The man who succeeded Michael Heseltine as Tory MP for Henley in 2001 has one of the highest profiles at Westminster.
Mr Livingstone has admitted that Mr Johnson would be a "formidable" opponent and has got his attacks in early by questioning his seriousness.
Apology
For Mr Johnson, famous enough to be known by most people as "Boris", has a history of what his critics call "gaffes".
In October 2004, while editor of The Spectator, he apologised for an unsigned editorial which criticised the city of Liverpool over grief expressed for Ken Bigley - the British contractor who was taken hostage and later killed in Iraq.
The next month he was sacked as Tory culture spokesman for failing to tell party leader Michael Howard the truth about claims he had had an affair.
And Mr Johnson managed to annoy school dinners campaigner Jamie Oliver by saying he would like to "get rid of [him] and tell people to eat what they like".
An article in April describing Portsmouth as "too full of drugs, obesity, underachievement and Labour MPs" was not universally well received.
Nor was the population of Papua New Guinea best pleased to be associated in a newspaper piece "with orgies of cannibalism and chief-killing".
Classical scholar
Despite his scrapes, Mr Johnson, a friend of fellow Old Etonian Tory leader David Cameron, is highly intelligent and has a following which extends beyond normal politics.
A classical scholar, he has appeared on shows such as Have I Got News For You several times, endearing many with his bumbling, fogeyish persona.
But whether this eccentric-but-establishment image would go down well with London's ethnically and culturally diverse voters remains to be seen.
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson was born in New York in 1964.
He was educated at Eton before studying classics at Oxford where he also became president of the Union.
After leaving university in 1987, he worked briefly as a management consultant before becoming a trainee reporter with the Times newspaper.
His journalistic career suffered an early setback when he was sacked for falsifying a quote.
He then worked for the Wolverhampton Express and Star before joining the Daily Telegraph where he became the paper's European correspondent, working in Brussels.
He spent five years in that job and built a reputation as a good, if occasionally maverick, reporter.
On his return to London he became the newspaper's political commentator and in 1999 was appointed editor of the right-of-centre Spectator magazine, which he left in 2005.
After just six years at Westminster he has become more famous than most Cabinet ministers, without ever soaring to the top ranks of even his own party.
Mr Johnson will face huge scrutiny in the run-up to next May's mayoral election - and journalists are salivating over a ding-dong contest between "Boris and Ken."
中國時報 2008.04.02
搞笑政客選倫敦市長 聲勢看漲
閻紀宇／綜合報導
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| 倫敦一寶 向前行 ▲角逐英國首都倫敦市長的保守黨候選人波利斯．強森善於搞笑，而且聲勢節節看漲。（美聯社） |
波利斯．強森（Boris Johnson）代表在野的保守黨出馬，挑戰工黨現任市長李文斯頓。他頂著一頭搶眼的金色亂髮，散發似乎永遠用不完的精力，運用語不驚人死不休的天分，讓熟悉傳統政治人物端莊形象的選民眼睛一亮。根據最近幾項民調，波利斯（民眾都這樣稱呼他）已經嚴重威脅李文斯頓的連任之路。
日前波利斯在倫敦一處市場拉票時，媒體形容43歲的他有如「一隻超級愛說話的拉不拉多犬」。他走到賣海鮮的小販面前，拿起一粒生蠔，大聲宣布：「我要讓倫敦人都有生蠔可吃。」他掏錢買雜誌時，口袋裡翻出的東西除了幾枚銅板，還有一團髒兮兮的乳酪。人家問他當選後要做什麼，他像連珠砲般脫口而出：「樂觀、能量、動力和創意！」 土國移民媒體名人
其實波利斯這號人物頗有來頭。他的曾祖父是土耳其貴族，20世紀初移民英國。他在美國紐約出生，也住過比利時，後來回英國唸伊頓公學與牛津大學，畢業後進入新聞界，待過《泰晤士報》與《每日電訊報》，1999年當上著名雜誌《旁觀者》（Spectator）總編輯，還不時客串電視節目主持人。
2001年波利斯進軍政壇，當選國會下議院議員，連任至今，其間還擔任過保守黨影子內閣的大臣，很受黨魁卡麥隆重用。從波利斯的學經歷和年齡來看，政治前途應該相當看好。只不過他的私生活問題和口沒遮攔的作風，讓自己惹上不少麻煩。
爆婚外情口沒遮攔 2004年，已婚的波利斯被媒體踢爆有長達4年的婚外情，對方是《旁觀者》駐紐約特派員薇伊特。他先是矢口否認，後來終於紙包不住火，被踢出影子內閣時說：「我發現人生沒有災難、只有機會─引發新災難的機會。」他對朴次茅斯這座城市頗有意見，曾說當地充斥著：「毒品、胖子、窩囊廢和工黨國會議員」，結果當然是引發公憤。
儘管如此，不少倫敦人似乎覺得波利斯的另類作風很對胃口，現在各方正拭目以待，看看這位搞笑政治人物會不會在5月1日投票當天，讓對手再也笑不出來。
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