In her Observer column this weekend, Barbara Ellen laid the ‘blame for Boris’ squarely at the door of Uxbridge and South Ruislip folk, after they selected him as their candidate to fight the 2015 general election on Friday night.

Musing on the Mayor of London’s motives for a return to Parliament (purely self-serving, she believes, with Number 10 the ultimate goal) and the artfully choreographed selection procedure (faux chaotic: he did not just ‘whack in’ his application – his words, as revealed by Hillingdon Council leader Ray Puddifoot – but had Uxbridge teed up as the best route back to the Commons since way back), Ellen said Tory folk hereabouts had let themselves get starstruck.

“Put bluntly, there’s no point being annoyed with Johnson. He can’t help his venal power cravings or blatant moral incontinence – they’re ingrained now,” she said.

“I no longer blame Johnson for his nature, and nor should anyone else.

“Instead, let’s blame Uxbridge and South Ruislip for falling for the excitement and the stardust.

“Blame them for eschewing the opportunity to select sensibly, for their locality, and instead behaving like stoned students up for a rag-day laugh.

“How refreshing it would have been had Uxbridge and South Ruislip refused Johnson’s unique brand of political vaudeville, and told him that he was not a good fit, that they preferred someone who was serious.

“How refreshing if they’d simply refused to laugh along with the Boris gangshow. But then, how amazing if anyone did?”

Among those of us shivering outside Ruislip High School late on Friday night while the ‘students’ were inside making their decision, was there a hint of doubt?

Certainly the mutterings were of a ‘much bigger story’ if association members had said ‘no’ to blond ambition.

Sir John Randall, who looked a little wistful on the night, and who had opined weeks before that Boris was not a ‘shoo in’, praised association members for their work.

“It was a fantastic meeting,” he said, “four excellent candidates.”

Had the members given Boris a tough time? “They gave nobody a tough time. You know what we are like in Uxbridge, we’re nice people,” he said.

Asked if it was a sad night for him, Sir John, MP since 1997, admitted to feeling a little emotional but was well prepared for handing over the reins.

Could Boris manage being Mayor of London and Uxbridge and South Ruislip MP? Would he lose sight of local issues?

“They say that you can’t be Mayor at the same time (as an MP) but the Prime Minister is also a constituency MP, and they always seem to forget that I was the Government deputy chief whip for a long time so I could manage the two. Nobody thinks of me not being around here all the time.”

What swung it for Boris? “He was just better,” said Sir John.

“He was more professional. The others haven’t got that expertise.”

But he said the defeated candidates – Councillor David Simmonds, barrister Suella Fernandes and Windsor and Maidenhead councillor Simon Dudley – might well all be MPs one day.

Earlier, reporters could be heard rehearsing their shouted questions, even after Boris’s handlers from Conservative Campaign Headquarters had made it clear that, were he to win, there would only be a brief statement.

Maybe they knew how he would be unable to resist a soundbite.

When the word went out: “It’s Boris”, and the TV lights came on, admittedly there was a slight feeling of inevitability, of ‘job done’, box ticked, move on.

“I’m very pleased to say that the Uxbridge and South Ruislip Conservative Association have done me the honour of picking me to fight the election in 236 days as their candidate, and that is what I am going to do, and obviously I am thrilled.

“It’s going to be a tough fight, a long fight, but I have no doubt whatever that we are going to be able to return David Cameron and the Conservatives with an absolute majority, and that’s what I’ll be working for not just in Uxbridge but in the rest of London as well.”

Statement delivered and shouted questions answered, Boris, his wife, Marina, his handlers, the media, onlookers and pretty much everyone else melted away from the schoolyard in the blink of an eye.

Rumour has it the Johnsons, after slipping out a side door, dined at a South Ruislip curry house.

There will be a period of ‘phoney war’ before the election campaign next spring.

Outside Ruslip High School, Mr Johnson said he needed to work with the local team to prepare the ground for the election, and getting his position on hot local topics such as the third runway and HS2 straight in people’s minds will be key.

Others will be snapping at this heels, with Labour and UKIP ready to take him to task.