AT a time dubbed the “anti-politics era”, there is one British politician who seems capable of engaging people, irrespective of party leanings.

For all his buffoonery, Boris Johnson has the rare knack of being a politician who is held in affection by the majority.

So could he be the natural successor to David Cameron, a prime minister who can’t escape the whispering campaigns about the need for a new leader?

The question has gathered momentum in the past week since the foppish Mayor of London was asked on a BBC current affairs programme whether he had ambitions to be prime minister.

All other politicians desperately avoid such questions, glibly spouting cliches about how they think only of serving the people and their party and how they sacrifice their personal ambitions.

But because he is different, Boris offered an answer: “If the ball came loose from the back of the scrum, which it won’t of course, it would be a great, great thing to have a crack at.”

It was a funny, clever and honest answer.

Boris has natural charisma and makes us laugh. He is a character and we are in desperate need of those in these dark days.

If Ed Miliband had been the one to get stuck on a zip-wire at the Olympics, it would have been a humiliating disaster. Boris, on the other hand, got away with it. It was a comical, endearing image which summed up the fun he brought to the capital’s Olympic success.

But for all that, it is unthinkable that Boris could be prime minister.

That position requires gravitas and statesmanship – and that’s where Boris falls well short.

We need the Boris Johnsons of the world to bring colour to politics – but, when it comes to the top job, we need a safe pair of hands.