BORIS Johnson was greeted by a cheering crowd on a visit to Abingdon to support Conservative candidate Nicola Blackwood.

The Mayor of London spoke in Market Place in the town centre on Saturday and addressed hundreds of people who turned out to hear him.

He was campaigning ahead of Thursday’s General Election in a bid to help the Conservatives retain Oxford West and Abingdon, a seat his party took from the Liberal Democrats in 2010 by just 176 votes.

Mr Johnson told the audience his choice of name for the newly-born Royal baby was Victoria, because it had a link with “Tory”. He added: “It’s incredibly exciting and I suggested to a certain amount of apathy that she should be called Victoria in honour of the coming Conservative victory, but that didn’t seem to go down particularly well, although there was a dutiful cheer from the Tories.

“What will she be called? Who knows? Coalisher? Let’s hope not.”

Miss Blackwood, who, in an exclusive interview with the Oxford Mail in March, revealed she is battling with a genetic condition, said: “It’s great to have his support.

“Clearly we have run a really hard-fought campaign. We are in the final days and we are going to be fighting for every single vote in this constituency.

“It’s one of the key seats we need in order to get a Conservative majority on May 7 and it’s just an indicator of quite how serious we take the constituency here.”

Mr Johnson added: “This is the last campaigning weekend before the General Election and I’m just a mere pawn on the great chess board.

“My mission is to go round helping colleagues and setting out the choice.”

After the event, Oxford West and Abingdon’s Lib Dem candidate Layla Moran tweeted: “I hear Boris Johnson is in Abingdon. Tories clearly panicking.”