Punk-Punk
Mayors of London
2000 - 2004: Malcolm McLaren (Independent)
2004 - 2008: Boris Johnson (Conservatives)
2008 - 2010: Malcolm McLaren (Independent)*
2010: Jenny Jones (Green) (acting-mayor)
2010 - 2018: Siobhan Benita (independent)
2018 - 2022: Shaun Bailey (independent)
2022 - xx: Jack Monroe (independent)
Narrowly winning out over the established parties, the controversial music mogul would struggle to achieve much
of his election manifesto - some of which, like his housing lottery plan and pubs in libraries, was only a stunt anyway. He would end up pilloried by his radical base (and would personally be frustrated) as his proposal to never get in the way of protests turned up to incompatible with being a mayor of a city that has protests. His control of the Office of Mayor was notably harsh, he was seen as untrustworthy by everyone he had to work with, and after he was out of power it became clear he'd messed up the city's finances.
That all aside, McLaren was popular for his defence and support of small businesses, his expansion of transport, push for cheap adult education, and attempts to resolve rough sleeping. He may have won a second term if he hadn't pressured the Metropolitan Police to "look the other way" on prostitution and minor drugs, and even that might have been survivable if he hadn't brushed off concerns from residents of public spliffs or aggressive drunk men soliciting.
In order to win, the Conservatives sent in Boris Johnson and they won with a big majority. Johnson reversed the "look the other way" policy and started to focus on attracting bigger chains over small businesses, but mostly promised to keep all the stuff people liked. (One thing he dropped was McLaren's bizarre "Digital Dixon", information stations modelled on the imagery of Dixon of Dock Green) Unfortunately for Johnson, he ran into McLaren's messy finances and so had to make cuts. And when the cuts came in, many Londoners thought Johnson was exaggerating the problem to make cuts he wanted to make, and certainly some of the cuts seemed suspiciously right-wing ones to make.
McLaren never rested, spending four years in 'campaign mode' and running a consultancy business where he'd advise other cities on how to improve themselves. He didn't get many clients but it kept him in the public eye, associated with cities getting better. In 2008, he retook the mayor's job.
The financial crash in 2008 made the job far less fun the second time round and it became clear as he spent that Johnson hadn't entirely lied about the overspending. His continued push of Digital Dixon, through all manner of IT problems, came in for heavy criticism and mockery.
McLaren's illness and early death would shock the nation. (It would also save Digital Dixon by making it a dead legend's last act - it remains in London as a belovedly silly icon, and a headache for the city to keep going)
After a period of mourning, the established parties prepared to put one of their people in but McLaren had succeeded in making people think of the mayor as someone independent from the parties, leaving the city in the hands of the city. Deputy Mayor Jones would be the last Mayor of London officially part of a national party. A major legacy of McLaren is the boost in independent candidates and small parties across the UK, many of whom fail miserably but still see more success in councils & certain constituencies than they used to, as it's been 'proved' they can win; similarly, the Greens saw a brief surge in the 2010s through their new prominence and the fact one of them had briefly run a city. Dark rumour has it that Britain would see more directly-elected city mayors if Westminster wasn't scared off by yet another big city being run by someone outside of the parties, and the Northern Intercity Party movement continues to rally for elected city mayors to help uplift the region.
The odder legacy of McLaren is the London League, a quasi-professional football league with a team for each borough and an annual Mayor's Cup match between the top eight teams. It remains constantly on the verge of losing money and doesn't attract the big players, but it has a fierce core of fans who see it as truly local rather than owned by big money interests. The 2022 match will be between:
- House of Balls [Westminster]
- Lambeth Lions
- Islington Angels
- Suburban Queens [Ealing]
- Merton United
- Croydon Boys
- Greenwich Time
- The Foresters [Waltham]