Final three drawn up by Tories for London mayoral clash

Sound the trumpets! Get out the pitchforks! CCHQ is – allegedly – at it again! There is a great hue and cry this morning from London Tories at the final shortlist of names to run for City Hall. Members must pick from one of Daniel Korski, Susan Hall AM and Mozammel Hossain KC to be their next mayoral candidate. This after neither of the two widely-tipped frontrunners – Paul Scully MP and Samuel Lasumu – made the final list, amid accusations that CCHQ blocked one or both men.

What exactly is going on? Kasumu, a former aide to Boris Johnson, posted a statement on Saturday claiming ‘for a number of weeks… certain individuals were seeking the best mechanism to prevent me making the shortlist.’ He claims the reasons given by the chair of the London board were that he was a councillor for a ward outside London, that he lacked experience and boasted insufficient support.