Sure, Boris Johnson Is Funny. But Has He Ever Done a Job Well?

At the point where the River Thames empties into the North Sea, Boris Johnson wanted to build an airport on an artificial island.
It was 2009, and Mr. Johnson was newly in office as London mayor. To study the airport idea, he tried to enlist a leading scientist, Prof. David King, except Professor King had recently warned about rising water levels on the Thames. Hardly ideal conditions for an airport, he told the mayor, balking at the project while instead offering to look into other uses for the waterway.
So the professor was taken aback when Mr. Johnson publicly named him chairman of a team investigating a Thames estuary airport. Professor King confronted the mayor.
“He said, ‘Oh, silly me, silly me,’ or something like that, and fluffed his hair,” Professor King recalled. The mayor went on: “Ah David, it’ll be all right.”

It was not all right. Like several of Mr. Johnson’s marquee projects as mayor, the island airport plan sucked up millions of pounds in planning fees, but never went anywhere against nearly unanimous opposition and practical hurdles, such as how to put an airport on an internationally protected bird habitat.