London Mayor Boris Johnson has dropped his clearest hint yet that he harbours ambitions of exchanging London's City Hall for Downing Street as he left open the possibility of returning to Westminster as an MP.
Johnson refuses, in an interview published today, to rule out coming back to the House of Commons, which would be the essential first step for mounting a Tory leadership bid.
He is hugely popular with activists, because of his high profile and charisma, and many senior Conservatives believe he is positioning himself to succeed his fellow Old Etonian David Cameron at the party's helm.
He does nothing to dispel that suspicion in the interview with Prospect magazine. Johnson stressed that, if he wins next year's mayoral election, where his main rival will be Labour's Ken Livingstone, he will not stand for a third time to run City Hall.
"Look, what I have said is that I won't go on [as Mayor] after eight years," he said. "I think you can go on too long."
