Conservative London Mayoral Selection: Shortlisted Candidates

Tessa Jowell, the favourite for the Labour nomination for London mayor, has criticised the Conservative shortlist for the post for not including any women.

Boris Johnson announced he would continue as the mayor of London for one year after he was elected as the MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip in May.

As we’ve argued over the last couple of weeks, ConservativeHome doesn’t believe there should be a shortlist for the candidacy for Mayor of London – we would prefer people to be allowed an open choice from all those standing for the position.

The party revealed the four-strong shortlist on Saturday, ending the mayoral ambitions of footballer Sol Campbell, entrepreneur Ivan Massow and Westminster council leader Philippa Roe.

The four finalists will now redouble their campaigning efforts (no mean feat given that numerous people they need to persuade will be going on holiday shortly, if they haven’t gone away already), and ConservativeHome will be polling party members soon about their preferred candidate.

All four of the successful contenders will now take part in a series of hustings ahead of the vote to select a final candidate and result of that ballot is expected to be announced in September.

“London is a modern, open city built on diversity, it’s time the Conservatives caught up”.

“Under Boris we have seen record investment in our capital and all of this will be put at risk from a Labour Party only offering more borrowing, more spending and higher taxes”.