Defeating Ken Livingstone in the London mayoral elections in May "is important" for the fortunes of the Conservative party as a whole, David Cameron said. "There's no point trying to pretend that if we don't [defeat him] it's good - winning is good, losing is bad, it's that simple," writes Jean Eaglesham.

The Conservative leader did not predict an easy victory for his candidate Boris Johnson, who is now the bookies' favourite. "Boris is doing really well, it's a very good campaign," he said. "But removing someone who's a two-term incumbent . . . is hard work."