What prompts this observation is his comment that his 'first major policy decision' came at the age of six months when he refused to eat eggs.

It conjures up an image of a bonny blond baby bowling his egg across the breakfast table in a paddy, hair flying in all directions.

Whatever. He transformed It must have been a persuasive argument some years later for hard boiled eggs were sent packing into Room 101 when he appeared on the tv show of that name.

So it should have come as no surprise that the tousle haired Tory, best known for making a scarecrow look debonair, sought out a career in politics.

And I, for one, am pleased that he did.

That's not a political decision on my part. It's a personal one.
You see, I think the political world needs characters. And Boris Johnson is definitely one of them.

His foot-in-mouth approach would make even the most hard nosed spin doctor dizzy.

And his absent minded bumbling approach to life is legendary. Do you remember another tv show, Top Gear, where he drove a car round a race track. As he approached the finishing line there was the sound of a car horn. "Who hooted at me?" he shouted.

Actually, he had caught the horn with his elbow.

Johnson (he's one of the few politicians to be instantly recognised by just his first name but I won't refer to him in that way as Labour HQ-niks were rumoured to have opened a swear box for anyone who acknowledged his popularity in that way - my money's too hard come by for that) laughed along with others at his own discomfiture.

So will he make a good Lord Mayor of London?

Can't answer that one. I simply don't know yet. But what I do know is that while having a strong personality doesn't automatically make you a good mayor, you can't be a good mayor without a strong personality.

Which brings me to Martin Winter. The elected Mayor of Doncaster is no Boris Johnson. But in his own way he is just as big a personality, just in a smaller pond.

And I can't help but feel that this has been to the benefit of Doncaster, all things considered.

I haven't always thought that way.

Through no fault of my own, I firmly believe, I didn't understand what was on offer when it was suggested that we may introduce US-style elected mayors to the UK.

It wasn't explained clearly and certainly not concisely.

And, wrapped up in convoluted town-hall-speak as it was, I put on my cynic-tinted specs and declared: "That thing will never fly, Wilbur."
Against all the odds, it has in Doncaster.

A string of flagship developments have been achieved thanks, according to those in the know, to the mayor's personal commitment and energy.
There is a buzz about the place and a sense of direction and purpose.
Would that have happened without an elected mayor, or even with a different elected mayor? Who knows.

But you can't deny that it has happened under Mayor Martin's stewardship.

It has come at a price, though.

He has earned more than a few enemies along the way and the new broom approach which accompanied his meteoric rise to political fame seems to have come unstuck along the way.

It seems there are as many controversies hounding Doncaster local government today as during the contentious Donnygate days.

And much of it is blamed on Mayor Winter's personality.

Can't say I'm surprised. From where I sit, it needs a strong personality to be a good mayor. And the price of that is a few noses put out of joint.


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