Shaun Bailey will be the Conservative candidate for the London mayoral elections in 2020, the party has confirmed.
He beat Andrew Boff and Joy Morrissey in the ballot of London Tory members, winning 43 per cent of votes.
Boff won 35 per cent, while Morrissey took 21.4 per cent of the vote. The turnout was just under half at 47.8 per cent.
Bailey said:
It is a great honour to be selected as the Conservative Party’s candidate for the 2020 London mayoral election. For someone who grew up in a council house in one of the poorest parts of London, securing this nomination is proof that our city truly is the place where anything is possible.
London has given me so much. It’s why I’ve spent my entire adult life trying to repay its generosity, either through my twenty plus years of youth work helping to steer children away from a life of crime and towards work opportunities, or my current involvement on the London Assembly, where I have done my best to hold the current mayor to account.
London Assembly member Bailey said London faced “real challenges”, including rising knife crime, slow growth of new house builds and a transport system with a £1bn hole in its operating budget.
“After two and a half years of Sadiq Khan, it is clear we cannot afford more of the same,” he added.
Conservative Party chairman Brandon Lewis said he was “delighted” Bailey had been elected as the party’s candidate.
“He is passionate about London and has the ideas London needs to continue to be the best capital city in the world,” he said.
“London is being let down by Sadiq Khan, who keeps breaking the promises he made to Londoners on crime, housing and transport. I know Shaun will hold him to account and outline his positive vision for London.”
