London mayor election: Conservative ‘circus’ as shortlist to take on Sadiq Khan announced

The Conservatives’ shortlisting process ahead of next May’s London mayoral election has been branded “a circus”, after favourite Paul Scully MP failed to make the final three.

Mr Scully, the Minister for London and MP for Sutton and Cheam, was widely regarded as the front-runner in the race to become the party’s candidate to take on Sadiq Khan.

On Sunday (June 11) it emerged that the Tory selection panel had decided not to include him in the shortlist. It opted for Assembly Member (AM) and former City Hall Conservatives leader Susan Hall; tech entrepreneur Daniel Korski, who also was a Downing Street aide to David Cameron; and King’s Counsel barrister Mozammel Hossain, who until this point was not widely known to have thrown his hat into the ring.

There have been reports that Mr Scully did not feature in the final list due to the unpopularity of the Conservative parliamentary party in London, and concerns about how this would impact his campaign.

Mr Scully said: “While I’m disappointed by today’s decision, I’d like to extend my deepest gratitude to Team Scully, the many volunteers, activists, councillors, AMs and MPs across London who supported my campaign. Your dedication and scale of support has been incredible.”

Ms Hall thanked those who had supported her, saying she is “honoured to have been shortlisted”, while Mr Korski said he is “delighted” at the selection.

A London Labour source branded the shortlisting process a “circus”, adding Londoners “know exactly what the Tories are about - a cost-of-living crisis, soaring housing costs, and bringing our public services to their knees”.

The source continued to describe the list of potential candidates as representing “more of the same approach that we’ve seen over the past 13 years of Tory government”.

“Whoever the Tories select as their candidate, Sadiq will be proudly campaigning on his record delivering for Londoners - making our city greener, building record numbers of council homes, continuing to tackle violent crime and its causes, and giving primary children free school meals.”

Speaking at London Tech Week, Mr Khan told LondonWorld: “I think it’s really important that Londoners realise that it appears that the reason that the Minister for London was excluded from the shortlist was because the Conservatives don’t want to run on their record.”

He said he is “very happy and proud to be running on my record”, claiming successes such as his record number of starts on affordable homes, before adding: “Whoever the Conservatives choose will have to stand on the record of the 14 years it’s been a Conservative government. Austerity, cuts, cost-of-living crisis, extreme hard Brexit and so forth.”

A series of hustings will now be held, after which London Conservative party members will vote for who they wish to become their mayoral candidate. The winner will then be announced on July 19.