Podcast #21: On the campaign trail with Boris

We're back after the Easter recess with a cracker of a podcast this week. Stick a microphone in front of Boris Johnson and what appears is bound to be audio gold. In addition to some improbable culinary adventures and unsuccessful attempts to persuade the mayor to get a haircut, we also spoke to students at the college he was visiting in Croydon and the local Tory Assembly member, Steve O'Connell.

Despite all the hilarity, I felt Boris seemed in somewhat constrained mood. The shackles of political campaigning are clearly on; he knows he can't afford any to make any major gaffes during this critical period which could swing the polls against him. Yes, for now he is ahead in the polls. But Boris' strategists understand that his personality can only be exposed to the public through very muted means. Like cooking a crepe suzette, for example.

"I don't know what personality has to do with politics," one student told me. The answer is everything: especially when that personality is Boris'. This portrait of one morning on the campaign trail will hopefully give a flavour of the impact which Boris' personality, however muted, is having not just on this campaign – but on his entre career.