Susan Hall promises to be ‘first female Labour’ London mayor in gaffe at Conservative Party Conference

Susan Hall made a rather unusual promise at the Conservative Party Conference over the weekend, as she told those in attendance she will become the “first female Labour” mayor of London.

Ms Hall, who recent pollicing indicated is tailing current mayor Sadiq Khan by just a few points, made the gaffe at the first day of the Tory conference in Manchester.

In a clip circulating on social media, Ms Hall said: “I will be sitting at my desk in City Hall as your first female Labour…no, not Labour, never Labour. Your first female London mayor.”

Ms Hall, who has said she will deal with “bread-and-butter issues” including scrapping the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) expansion, though not the inner London zone, fighting crime, and building more affordable family homes, has come under pressure after historic controversial Twitter activity were recently unearthed.

This included liking tweets which featured Islamaphobic abuse of Mr Khan and a photo of former Conservative politician Enoch Powell, most famous for his racist “rivers of blood” speech, alongside the quote: “It’s never too late to get London back.”

In an interview with LBC presenter Nick Ferrari, she “can’t remember” liking the post, and that: “If you’re a serial tweeter, you tend to go through liking all sorts of things.”

Asked whether she was “a fan of Enoch Powell”, Ms Hall said “of course” not, and that she apologises “if anybody is offended”.

The London mayoral elections are due to take place next May, and will for the first time involve the first-past-the-post voting system.