Tories begin to attack Sadiq Khan for his links to Jeremy Corbyn

Now Jeremy Corbyn has passed his first electoral test in Oldham West, the Conservatives are focusing on the next one: the 2016 London Mayor election. CCHQ has launched SadiqWatch today, a new website which shows off the Tories’ lines of attack against Sadiq Khan for the first time. Just like the Not Ken Again site from the 2012 Mayoral race, the videos and graphics don’t mention they’re from the Tories, but the site’s footer does say (in small print) they are produced at CCHQ.

The most striking attack line is in the standfirst of SadiqWatch: ‘Holding Corbyn’s candidate to account’. As one of the 35 Labour MPs who nominated Jeremy Corbyn for Labour leader, the Tories are planning to say that Corbyn and Khan are inextricably linked. The site argues that there was a 90 per cent crossover of voters between the two and Khan was crowned as the Labour candidate thanks to Corbyn. The problem Khan faces is that the Labour leader may be popular in his native Islington, but the rest of the capital, particularly the suburbs, may not feel so enthusiastic for the New Politics.