Johnson will ‘leave it to events’ over next move in politics

Mr Johnson, whose second term as mayor ends in 2016, has repeatedly attempted to pour cold water on reports that he is hoping to replace David Cameron as Conservative leader, without ever putting an end to speculation.

Quizzed about his plans on his Ask Boris show on LBC 97.3 radio, he again said: “I’m going to continue to be Mayor of London, as I never tire of telling you. Something will crop up.”

Asked by presenter Nick Ferrari what that “something” would be, Mr Johnson replied: “That is a matter for it. It will have to crop up. I’m going to leave it to events.

“I’m fed up with answering this. I love doing my job and it is the most absorbing, brilliant job I have ever had and I want to go on doing it as well as I can.”

Mr Johnson joked he was prepared to change his name to Barclays Johnson in honour of the sponsors of the capital’s bike-hire scheme if the bank provided more money to keep it going. “If they give us another £100m for the bike hire scheme, I’ll change my name to Barclays Johnson,” the Mayor told LBC, during his third phone-in session as a regular host.

Mr Johnson was formerly MP for Henley-on-Thames and won the Mayoral seat in 2008 on a comfortable margin, taking 43.2 per cent of the vote against the 37 per cent for the former incumbent, Labour’s Ken Livingstone.

A recent poll of 700 grassroots members by the ConservativeHome website found 21 per cent wanted Mr Johnson to become the next Conservative Party leader, with Education Secretary Michael Gove a secondary strong contender with 20 per cent, while 16.5 per cent wanted Home Secretary Theresa May, and 15 per cent favouring Richmond MP William Hague.