So I get this phone call a few hours ago from a someone who knows the sorts of other someones who would get wind of such a move if it were coming. Then there's the niceness of the timing: on Thursday Labour will be drawing up its shortlist of contenders to challenge for the mayoralty just under two years from now. It's going to be Ken and Oona. Or, if you like, Oona and Ken. Either way round, they make a lovely sun strip. Anyway, the theory goes that Boris will naughtily interrupt the Labour duo's coming domination of the London news agenda by formally declaring his wish to remain in City Hall in advance of that evening's State Of London debate, where he'll be talking up his record and generally Being Boris in excelsis with LBC broadcasting every word.
Sounds fairly plausible. Why wouldn't he start campaigning this early? After all, those two rivals to be Labour's candidate have already been at it for weeks (in Ken's case, for years). It's even murmured that Lynton Crosby, the election strategist who thinks anyone to the left of Margaret Thatcher is a Communist, will be masterminding Boris's campaign again. It's only a murmur, and I wouldn't wager anything on the strength of it.
As for Mayor Johnson's supposed impending declaration, I'm advised by "sources close to" not to hold my breath. But what the hell? As the man whose bold pledge of fifty pence that Boris would seek to abolish the WEZ on Christmas Eve was gloriously vindicated, I'm prepared to punt a theoretical quid - no more than that - that he'll be tossing his cycle helmet into the 2012 mayoral ring in the next few days. We shall see.
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