First he was runner-up to Lord Archer, then he was barred from the contest after allegations about his private life and later reinstated, but the former Conservative transport minister, Mr Steven Norris, finally made it yesterday when he was chosen as the Conservative Party candidate for mayor of London.
Mr Norris, the clear favourite, won easily, polling 12,903 votes against 4,712 for Mr Andrew Boff, who runs a business on the Internet. However, at 46.9 per cent, the turnout of London Conservative members was significantly lower than the 57 per cent in the first selection process, when Mr Norris stood against Lord Archer. The Conservatives were forced to re-run the contest after Lord Archer resigned as candidate last year following his admission that he asked a friend to lie for him in the run-up to his libel action against the Daily Star in 1987.
Shortly after 3 p.m., when Mr Norris was confirmed as the candidate, he declared: "I have had losing and I have had winning, and believe me, winning is better." Conservative Party leader Mr William Hague described him as a "superb candidate" and predicted he would win the contest in May outright.
Mr Norris said that despite all the "twists and turns", the Tories had still managed to choose their candidate a month ahead of Labour.