Nigel Farage vowed to unseat Sir Sadiq Khan today as he unveiled Reform’s candidate to be the next mayor of London.
Mr Farage insisted Reform could kick out the three-term winning Labour leader as he confirmed Laila Cunningham, a former CPS prosecutor and ex-Tory councillor in Westminster.
Signalling that the 2028 election will be fought around law and order in the capital, Mr Farage accused Sir Sadiq of standing by in the face of ‘a crimewave run by foreign criminal gangs, many of whom have come to this country illegally.’
Ms Cunningham, who joined Reform from the Conservatives last year, said that she would be ‘a new sheriff in town’ and also vowed to end Sir Sadiq’s ‘war on motorists’, including the expansion of the Ulez tax on cars.
The lawyer is a mother of seven children and the Muslim daughter of Egyptian immigrants who arrived in Britain in the 1960s.
She took aim at Sir Sadiq’s record on crime, and said she had a ‘different message’ for Londoners.
‘There will be a new sheriff in town, and I’ll be launching an all-out war on crime,’ Ms Cunningham said.
She added: ‘I will set clear, high-level priorities for the Met to focus on tackling knife crime, drugs, robbery, shoplifting, rape.’
Ms Cunningham also said she would task the police with ‘targeting, hunting and prosecuting rape gangs in London’.
She claimed people were now ‘scared’ to walk the streets of the capital and argued Met Police chief Sir Mark Rowley should be fired.
‘My message will be clear,’ she added. ‘If you are not delivering for Londoners then you are out.’
Bookies made her the 5/2 second favourite to become mayor behind Sir Sadiq.
Mr Farage said: ‘Laila Cunningham has already proven in her time with us as a party to be articulate, to be passionate, a mother, somebody who actually herself has had to effectively in the absence of the police, act as a police officer herself in defence of her children.
‘She, from this moment on, will be the head of Reform UK London, our candidate for the mayor next year and the face of our campaign as we fight a strong, vigorous campaign in all 32 London boroughs in the run up to May 7.’
The Reform leader described May’s local and devolved elections as ‘the single most significant set of electoral tests in this country between now and the general election’.
He also took aim at the Tories over their efforts in the previous two elections when Shaun Bailey and Susan Hall failed to capture the imagination of voters.
Reform UK’s support has surged in London while backing for Labour languishes at a record low in the capital, according to a poll.
A Savanta survey late last year found Mr Farage’s party was supported by 23 per cent of voters in London, up from 15 per cent in June.
This put Reform ahead of the Tories, who were down one percentage point to 20 per cent, with the Liberal Democrats on 11 per cent (-2) and Greens on 10 per cent (-3).
What measures could help improve safety and fairness in London?
Comment nowSir Sadiq Khan revealed he is aiming for a 16-year stretch as London mayor last September, as he confirmed it is his ‘intention’ to run for a fourth term in charge of the capital.
The Labour politician, who was first elected London mayor in 2016, said he had the ‘best job in politics’ as he set out an ambition to remain in his £170,000 role.
If Sir Sadiq were to run and win in 2028, he could stretch his time as mayor beyond a decade-and-a-half to 2032. There is no limit on the number of terms a mayor can serve.
Ms Cunningham said local elections in London boroughs in May are the ‘first step’ to ‘reclaiming’ the city in the 2028 London mayoral elections.
The Westminster councillor told a press conference: ‘Now I know that we’re still two and a half years away, but the election on May 7 is the first step.
‘It’s the first step to reclaiming our city. Now, these local elections, I tell everyone, will be a referendum on Sadiq Khan, on Labour’s broken London.
‘It’s London’s chance to vote out every councillor who’s propped him up and stayed silent while he’s let our city down.’
Pressed about a claim she wanted to restore London to its ‘glory days’ and when she thought those glory days were, Ms Cunningham referred to ‘when I was growing up’.
She added: ‘When I was growing up, I wasn’t scared to walk down the streets. I knew my local bobby. In fact, when I was growing up, my local teacher lived next to me. Now she can’t afford it. My local bobby lived next to me, now he can’t afford it.’
Asked if she wanted to see the Conservatives stand aside for Reform to improve their chances at the next London mayoral election, she did not appear to consider them a threat to her party’s chances of winning.
‘They can do whatever they want,’ Ms Cunningham said.
A source close to Mr Khan said he is ‘getting on with the job of delivering a fairer, safer, greener city for every Londoner’.
Sadiq has delivered 100 million free school meals for state primary schools kids in the capital, helping families with the cost of living,’ they added.
‘The number of homicides in London are at a record low, he’s built a record number of council homes, and Sadiq’s policies have cut harmful air pollution in the capital by 27 per cent.’
Lib Dem London spokesman Luke Taylor said: ‘From its history to its culture to its people, London is the greatest city in the world but all Reform seem to do is talk it down.
‘Cunningham and Farage care more about sowing division than they do about solving the actual problems that Londoners face.’
