London faces its seventh mayoral election next year and, yet again, the Tories are having trouble finding a suitable candidate. The publication this week of the final shortlist – Susan Hall, Daniel Korski and Mozammel Hossain – was accompanied by accusations of stitch-ups, counter-claims and legal threats between two of the defeated candidates. Sadiq Khan’s aides have enjoyed watching it all play out; Labour leads in London by a whopping 40 points. So a Tory victory next May is unlikely – but still not impossible.
Air quality in the once-smoggy capital is the cleanest it’s been for centuries, but Khan has declared a pollution ‘emergency’. He’s introduced new taxes on drivers as part of the ‘Ulez expansion’, something which his critics claim is tantamount to a ‘war on motorists’. Tories hope the expansion is unpopular enough to make him vulnerable. Even if the party does lose the next general election, a good showing in London would be seen as a prelude to recovery, as it once was with Boris Johnson.
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