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I cannot for the life of me understand why Boris is even under consideration.
The reasons are very simple--he was apparently funny on TV for a while, so people knew about him. Then he (or Lynton Crosby) ran two election campaigns against Ken Livingstone.
In the first one, Livingstone (who is no saint, obviously) was character-assassinated, especially by a series of articles in the Evening Standard whose veracity was not confirmed in later court proceedings as far as I know. He was also apparently very tired because he had a young child or young children at the time and couldn't campaign as energetically as before, leading to him to be perceived as a spent force ('it's time for a change').
In the 2012 campaign, Livingstone made the fatal mistake of attacking Johnson personally over his finances and his campaign immediately hit back with Livingstone's own tax arrangements. That was when you heard even longstanding Labour party members grumble about Livingstone. (I'd say he was probably the wrong candidate in 2012, but there weren't any others I would have considered.)
Anyway, this all gave Johnson the nimbus of being an election-winner, taking that big prize, London, and this is still how he is perceived by many Conservative Party members, especially outside London, who would not be as aware as Londoners of how venal and rubbish Johnson was as 'Mayor of London', a role he never filled (they might not care as much about that as would the people more affected by it). Some of his scandals have become public, like the Garden Bridge, but the real scandal is how little he did and how little he cared for the job while facing no effective scrutiny either by the London Assembly (not entirely their fault, as the Mayor of London is effectively unaccountable, Blairite-style) or the press.
In a nutshell, he's seen as familiar (having been on TV, similar to Trump) and an election-winner.
Johnson is apparently also extremely insecure and it is often said that he has a good feeling for what people want to hear, which he will then tell them. I haven't been able to confirm either.
Oliver Schick-
Boris is one of the best and brightest right wing stand-up comedians of his generation. He has strong charisma and a need to be the centre of attention at all times.
Johnson is apparently also extremely insecure and it is often said that he has a good feeling for what people want to hear, which he will then tell them.
That is a useful skill for a quick witted comedian or fraudster.
In the London Assembly Question Time the opposition Labour+LibDems+Greens connived to ask Boris the same question three times in a row. It sometimes worked, by the third call he had run out of jokes, bluffs and diversions and was forced to deal with the issues.
Charlie_L
He does seem like the grown up in the room, doesn't he?
I cannot for the life of me understand why Boris is even under consideration. The man is so obviously an utter fucking mediocrity. He is exceptional only in his level of delusion regarding how exceptional he thinks he is and for the fact that people seem to be unable to stop talking about him. Can we please just ignore him until he goes away.