On Wednesday Boris Johnson delivered the Margaret Thatcher lecture at the Centre for Policy Studies.

You can read the full speech here.

I must declare an interest, speaking as a Tory, I loved the speech, in my opinion, this is the sort of speech more Tories need to make.

Unsurprisingly It has lead to pieces like Boris Johnson’s philosophy isn’t just elitist – it’s sinister and  Boris Johnon is Still a ‘Nasty Piece of Work’? even George Osborne distanced himself from parts of the speech this morning. 

John Rentoul ‘s take on the speech is that 

Boris has blown it (his chances as next Tory Leader)……Anyway, Boris Johnson was well fancied when he stood up on Wednesday to deliver the Margaret Thatcher lecture at the Centre for Policy Studies. Half an hour later, everything had changed. It was a brilliant speech, sharply observed, dealing with big themes; fluent, and very funny. And a complete disaster.

….Now, for the sake of shocking the puritans of the liberal-left, he has identified himself with the right wing of the Tory party and pointlessly abandoned the one thing that could get him the top job: his cross-party appeal.

That said, back in May 2008 Zoe Williams and others in the Guardian wrote about Boris

Be afraid. Be very afraid. Unbelievable as it may seem, Boris Johnson has a real chance of being elected London mayor today. Zoe Williams and other Londoners imagine what it would be like if this bigoted, lying, Old Etonian buffoon got his hands on our diverse and liberal capital.

A few hours later (and again a four years later), Londoners elected Boris

Perhaps Boris is at his best, electorally, when left leaning commentators are hyping him as the great ring wing menace?

TSE