Make national citizen service compulsory,

General election 2010: Make national citizen service compulsory, says Boris JohnsonLondon mayor calls on David Cameron to beef up Conservative policy during visit to Chelsea Pensioners

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(7)Tweet this (15)Comments (9) Hélène Mulholland guardian.co.uk, Friday 9 April 2010 13.01 BST Article history
Boris Johnson and David Cameron pose with a Chelsea pensioner. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP


It was supposed to be a photo opportunity to help David Cameron on the campaign trail – but the decision to invite the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, appeared to backfire when he urged the Tory leader to beef up his national citizen service proposals.

During a visit to south-west London with Cameron today, Johnson decided to offer advice on the policy, announced yesterday with the backing of Sir Michael Caine.

The two were drinking tea with Chelsea Pensioners as Cameron explained his proposals for every 16-year-old to have the opportunity to do citizen service when Johnson intervened, saying: "I think it should be compulsory. Why don't you make it compulsory?"

Cameron – who did not respond directly to the mayor's suggestion – suggested teenagers participating in the scheme could do some service with the armed forces.

"It might have a military side. The military are keen to get involved," he added.

The Tory leader admitted his own teenage years had not been blameless.

"I was always in trouble when I was a member of the cadet force – I was always the one caught smoking and made to do the washing up," he said.

Two years ago, Cameron joined Johnson on the campaign trail as the then-Henley MP ran for mayor of London.

Since then, Tory Central Office has kept a measured distance from the mayor, repeatedly declining to comment when his administration has been embroiled in controversies.

These have included the departure of a large number of mayoral advisers in a relatively short space of time, including Ian Clement, whom Johnson allowed to resign for misusing expenses and who subsequently received a suspended jail sentence.

Johnson has also insisted on pushing policies he believes would benefit London but which are at odds with the Tory line, such as his support for a new airport in the Thames estuary.

His call for an earned amnesty for long-time illegal immigrants living and working in London has also been opposed by the Tory high command.

And, while the Conservatives have stated their intention to rein in public spending, Johnson has made the case for maintaining investment in major London infrastructure projects such as Crossrail.

However, when it comes to waste, cuts and efficiencies, the Tories are keen to endorse Johnson's ideas.

Yesterday, Cameron told BBC London he works "closely" with the mayor, despite rumours that the relationship between the two old Etonians is ambivalent.

"We talk a lot," the Tory leader said. "Some of the things he's done, like freezing the council tax, we want to roll out across the country. His tree planting scheme. He's saved a lot of waste at County Hall [sic] and got the budget in better order."

Yesterday, Johnson announced the appointment of a new adviser, Nicholas Griffin, to cut waste and identify savings within the Greater London authority.


Griffin will be among seven advisers earning a salary of more than £120,000 – he is on £127,000 – putting Johnson at odds with Tory hostility to high public sector pay.

In an interview with Vanessa Feltz on BBC London, Johnson predicted Britain would not wake up to a hung parliament but a Conservative administration "under Dave" on 7 May.


While the Tories generally see Johnson as a campaign asset, Labour is seeking to present the mayor's record in office as a negative for his party.

A unit, headed by Ken Livingstone's former chief of staff, Simon Fletcher, was set up some months ago to highlight what Labour says would be the realities of a Tory administration in action.

Fletcher was quick to respond to Cameron's claim, in a Guardian article, that Johnson had introduced the London living wage – a policy of a basic rate of pay above the minimum wage actually introduced by Livingstone five years ago.

Johnson, who at the end of the month will mark the midway point of his four-year term, has faced criticism over the introduction of above-inflation fare rises.

The increases were introduced at the start of the year due to a shortfall in Transport for London's finances, caused in part by a drop in fare revenue during the economic downturn.

Critics claimed they cancelled out the benefits of freezing the council tax precept for a second year.

Tessa Jowell, the Cabinet Office minister and London minister, hit out at other Johnson policies. "The commitment on affordable housing, essential so that people can afford to live in London, has been abandoned, and police numbers are being cut by 455 officers," she said.

"The mayor abandoned his commitment to chair the Metropolitan Police Authority, he has broken his promise to keep ticket offices open, he has broken his promise to extend tube opening hours, and he will not reassure Londoners that Safer Neighbourhood teams will continue in full.

"How can people trust David Cameron when the mayor has broken the pledges he made to Londoners?"