Concerns remain over ‘personality politics’ and powers

As the two rivals slug it out on the campaign trail ahead of London’s own mayoral election next Thursday, you might think the one thing most people agree on is that the mayoralty has been a massive success for the capital since it was introduced in 2000.

Somehow, these bitter rivals manage to disagree even on that.

“You need a mayor in a big city like London to champion and to militate for the interests of everybody in the city,” Mr Johnson told a Downing Street reception recently.

“I’m still not persuaded of the mayoral system, because it concentrates a lot of power in one person’s hands,” Mr Livingstone said at a lunch earlier this month.

“It leads to a degree of celebrity politics, which means the issues go down the agenda.”

Whatever your view, there is little doubt the pair have captured the imagination of their electorate and re-engaged many Londoners with local politics.

Mr Livingstone was mayor for eight years, revolutionising the capital with his roads congestion charge.

Mr Johnson seized power in 2008 and is favourite to win a second term next week, having brought modern versions of the much-loved Routemaster buses back to the city’s streets.

Various other towns and cities around the country have embraced the directly-elected mayor model - albeit with varying degrees of success.

In 2002 the people of Hartlepool memorably elected the mascot of their local football team, H’Angus the Monkey, on a ticket of ‘free bananas for schoolchildren’,

After his election, however, H’Angus stood down as Hartlepool FC’s mascot and stopped wearing his monkey suit, revealing himself to be a sensible young man named Stuart Drummond. He has remained in power ever since, winning an historic third term in 2009.

The past year has seen mayoralties become increasingly important, with several large cities opting for the model.

Leicester brought in a directly-elected mayor since last summer, while Liverpool and Salford will do so for the first time next week.

Stoke, however, recently opted to ditch its mayoral system after a decade over concerns about the mayor’s failure to work well with the elected councillors.