There was a lively skirmish in the battle for London the other night with all three combatants fielding questions , live in front of the TV cameras, with Andrew Neil the tough interragator. A demanding pitch arena for even the most experienced performers. How well did they do?

Rather than listen to what they were saying I turned down the sound and focussed on their body language.Apparently, the way we respond to communication is such that only 8% is purely down to the verbal content the rest of our reponse is formed by the non-verbal, tone and visual.

Brian Paddick looked composed, correct posture, reasoning, every inch the upright police officer. What he did not appear, to me anyway, was passionate.

Ken was interesting. At first glance the familiar fluency with the expected hint of the pugnacious. Not thrown by even the difficult questions. However he seemed less engaged ,somewhat as if going through the motions , someone who has done this so often it no longer challenges.

By contrast Boris had shrugged off ‘Mr Johnson’ (see last post) and was more like his ebullient self. But , it seemed to me with important differences. His hair had been trimmed, sort of, the result being you could see his eyes, which flashed real anger at times. Overall his body language was that of a tougher and more determined Boris who really hungers for the job and has the steel to do it.