Hall is elected Conservative candidate for Mayor of London – News Block

Congratulations to Susan Hall who has been chosen to be the Conservative candidate for Mayor of London. She now she starts the real contest to defeat Sadiq Khan in May next year.

Hall won by a clear margin: 57 percent to Moz Hossain’s 43 percent. All members of the Conservative Party in the capital had the right to vote. His victory is not surprising. He had the highest number of endorsements. That reflected his credentials as a former leader of Harrow Council and former leader of the Conservative Group in the London Assembly. She has written several times for this site.

In a statement on Twitter, Hall saying:

“It is a great honor to be the Conservative candidate for Mayor of London, I am very grateful to everyone for their support. Thank you Moz Hossain for his hard-fought, positive campaign. I will work tirelessly to defeat Sadiq Khan and give Londoners the change we need.”

The selection process did not go well. It came as a surprise that Paul Scully, the Conservative MP for Sutton and Cheam and a London minister, was not shortlisted. He supported Hall over the weekend in an article for the Sunday Telegraph.

Daniel Korski made the shortlist, but withdrew shortly before voting began. This was after the “groping” accusations which he flatly denied. That incident later led to broader criticism of vetting deals for conservative candidates and whether those deemed “modernizers” are treated more leniently than others.

Some will see this as a missed opportunity to challenge stereotypes about conservatives. James Johnson argued that “safety comes first” when the odds are stacked against you, so something unexpected would shake things up.

Hossain grew up in a family of ten in a mud-floored shack in Bangladesh, not owning a pair of shoes until he was 16. Khan was elected mayor after emphasizing his humble origins, as the son of a bus driver, Hossain. he replied that his father never saw a bus in the town where they lived. As Glen Owen mused in the Mail on Sunday, the mayoral contest might have resembled “Monty Python’s sketch of the four Yorkshiremen, in which characters compete to describe the poorest of childhoods.” : ‘Carton box? You were lucky!’ “.

But Hossain proved politically inexperienced and not well known among London’s Tories. When asked for his views on a number of policies, in an interview with Camilla Tominey on GB Newshis answers were evasive.

Hall has proven to be a confident and energetic conservative champion. She offers a strong, common-sense approach to addressing important issues facing the capital, especially housing, transportation, policing, and the environment. While her message is proudly and distinctively conservative, she is not a government spokesperson. That streak of independence is vital in a mayoral candidate.

Winning in London has become a challenge for the Tories in recent years. If Labor still has a huge lead in the opinion polls next May, it will be a real challenge. However, Alex Crowley reminded us last week that Khan’s ratings are low and defeating him shouldn’t be impossible.

Opposition to the ULEZ extension is likely to be a major factor. Tomorrow’s by-election in Uxbridge and South Ruislip will give us a clue as to how strong sentiments are.