Mayor’s father on collision course with son as he demands: Axe HS2

Boris Johnson’s father was today on a collision course with his son after vowing to derail the £50 billion HS2 high-speed rail link.

Stanley Johnson condemned the “devastation that will be wreaked” on north London if the project — strongly supported by the Mayor — goes ahead. In an unlikely alliance with former Labour spin doctor Peter Mandelson and X Factor presenter Dermot O’Leary, Mr Johnson said HS2 should be scrapped.

At a meeting last night, he and other campaigners demanded the scheme’s architect Lord Adonis apologise for the “misery” he had caused and surrender his title. Speaking in Camden, which will be affected by the planned route, Mr Johnson conceded that his son was not going to stop HS2.

“It’s going to become clear this is something the country cannot afford once we throw in the full cost of compensation,” he said. “Then you add the disruption to general society and I think the project is probably going to kill itself.”

The Government wants to build the high-speed line from London to Birmingham and later north to Leeds and Manchester, and Mr Johnson said the tracks would have to be laid yards from his Regent’s Park home.

He joined hundreds of people at the meeting at Cecil Sharp House where campaigners passed a resolution saying that, if the scheme did go ahead, tunnelling should be scaled down and “full” compensation paid to affected households.

He also said that the line should stop at Old Oak Common, Harlesden — a move supported by the Mayor. He added: “Our objection, and it’s not being a nimby, is if it comes, it should stop at Old Oak Common. I don’t know exactly where that is, but it sounds like a jolly good place for a station.”

Boris Johnson wants major changes to the line due to open in 2026, but claims the project is essential for the economy.

Lord Mandelson, who owns a flat near Euston, where 11 platforms are proposed, said the scheme had been sold on a lie.

In a letter, he said: “HS2 is being promoted on a false prospectus, at the expense of the rest of the country’s rail network and, I should add, with very negative consequences for Camden.” Mr O’Leary, who lives in Primrose Hill, said: “We have friends who have businesses in the area who are terrified they are going to go out of business.