James Cleverly: ‘We can win big’ against Sadiq Khan in London mayor election with classic Tories policiesExclusive: ‘Personal attributes are at least as important as party affiliations, that’s how you win London,’ the former Home Secretary tells The Standard
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Nicholas Cecil, Chief Reporter @nicholascecil|Rachael Burford, Chief Political Correspondent @RachaelBurford2 minutes ago
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Sir James Cleverly has laid out battlelines against Labour if he is selected as the Tory candidate for Mayor of London.
In an exclusive interview with The Standard, the former Home Secretary, who quit the shadow Cabinet to launch his bid for City Hall, outlined how he would fight the contest as a “classic Conservative”.
His stance signals the potential for an election in 2028 fought on traditional party lines rather than a more focused battle over the Centre ground of politics in London.
“I’m going to run as an aspirational, entrepreneurial, forward-thinking Conservative candidate that is in tune with the city,” he says.
Conservative MP Sir James Cleverly who resigned from the shadow cabinet to stand for Mayor of LondonPA
Pressed whether he is too much on the Right of the Conservative Party for Left-leaning London to make him its mayor, he responds: “I’ve always been very much the case that people should have individual freedom.
“People should be able to live their lives largely how they wish, as long as it doesn’t impinge on the freedom and liberty of others.
“That is a classically Conservative position.
“An overly large and intrusive government, whether it be central government, local government, London government, limits both the freedom of the individual and the opportunity for businesses, and that’s again a classically Conservative proposition.
“I want people to live their lives. I want people to have choice. I want people to have freedom. I want people to have prosperity, to be able to get on the housing ladder, to be safe on the streets of the city and that means tough on crime.
“I want businesses to thrive, so that people have got money in their pocket – not just the wealthy, but everybody.
Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan PA Wire
“I know what I believe, and it’s what I’ve always believed.
“That’s the proposition I’m going to be putting forward and when we have done that as Conservatives, we have won and won big.”
With unemployment in London the highest in the country, he continues: “The simple truth is that we’ve got a Labour Government which is taxing and regulating businesses so aggressively that it’s making it really hard to run a business in London.
“We’ve got the population of London in decline for the first time in 50 years.
“We’ve got a house building collapse. We’ve got a city where people are being priced out and and that needs to to change.”
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But the Braintree MP faces a number of challenges to beat Sir Sadiq Khan, if he goes for a fourth term, or whoever is Labour’s candidate.
While Labour’s grip on London may have weakened, polls show the capital is still a Left-leaning city and to gain the keys to City Hall it appears he would have to win over people who may currently be planning to vote Reform, Labour, Liberal Democrat and possibly even Green.
The gap he might have to close could be about ten to 12 percentage points, according to surveys.
So how can he do this, especially since all Tory candidates since Boris Johnson have failed to do so?
“Personal attributes” will be key, suggests the former London Assembly member.
“London is a much more pragmatic city when it comes to voting,” he argues.
“I think people will make their choice based on who puts forward the most credible and potentially successful agenda for London.”
Sir James Cleverly will be seeking advice from ex-PM and former Mayor of London Boris Johnson AFP/Getty
Having just met Labour voters who he believed he could sway to possibly back him, he adds: “This is because if you are voting for a mayor, a person, and therefore the personal attributes are at least as important as party affiliations, that’s how you win London.”
London Conservative MPs did not rush to publicly support Sir James after his announcement, though, he insisted some contacted him privately, as did ex-PM and former mayor Boris Johnson with “very positive” messages.
“He will be among a number of people who I talk to to make sure that I’m harvesting all the best ideas and best experience,” explains Sir James, an ardent champion of Brexit.
Could his support for Brexit hamper his mayoral hopes in a city which voted 60% Remain?
“Some people want to fight every election on what happened in the past, but I think Londoners instinctively want to look to the future,” he replies.
The thrust of his attack on Sir Sadiq is that he has “given up on London”, adding: “It feels like he’s lost the fire for the job.”
But he sides with the Labour mayor against Donald Trump’s repeated attacks on the capital.
“When he criticizes London, he is wrong,” says the Conservative MP.
“But the job of the mayor is not to pick fights on social media. It’s actually to sort stuff out.”
He doubles down on his criticism of former Tooting MP Sir Sadiq as someone who is “not going to stand up to Andy Burnham‘s full-throated attack on London’s prosperity”.
He is reluctant to go into detail on policies at such an early stage but makes clear he may reverse some of Sir Sadiq’s flagship Ulez ultra low emission zone and criticises the Oxford Street pedestrianisation.
But he promises a positive agenda, a “vote for change” message, while piling into Sir Sadiq’s record.
“You’ve got to be positive about London,” he says.
“You can’t be a negative Eeyore constantly slating London and slagging it off and expecting Londoners to put you in charge,” he adds, without naming Reform UK’s mayoral challenger Laila Cunningham who has launched stinging criticism of the state of the capital, particularly over crime.
Reform UK mayoral candidate Laila CunninghamAFP/Getty
Lewisham-born Sir James, 56, decided earlier this summer, after months of speculation, that he would definitely make a bid for City Hall.
He felt he could not go through another party conference without making his position clear.
In a sign that the Tories may be scrambling to catch up with Nigel Farage’s party, which picked Ms Cunningham as its mayoral candidate in January, Sir James does not yet know the timetable for the Conservative selection process.
Intervieved by The Standard before the May local elections, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch told how she wanted to spread the net far and wide to try to find the strongest Tory contender for London mayor.
But Sir James is by far the most heavyweight Tory hopeful since Mr Johnson.
“Everything she has said publicly and privately leads me to believe that she would be very happy if I were the candidate,” he says.
“But also, she has made it very clear that what she wants is a strong candidate, and she doesn’t want to put her thumb on the scales or circumvent the system, and that’s that’s the right thing to do.
“I am confident that I can put a strong case forward to the London Conservatives.”
Conservative Party leader Kemi BadenochPA Wire
As for the threat from Reform, which seems to be leading the way in the digital war, Sir James responds: “You look at the local government elections, the last set of real elections for London. It’s very clear that the fight is between the Conservatives and Labour.
“I’m not going to spend my time obsessing about a party that has zero chance of winning the mayoralty.”
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James CleverlyMayor of LondonSadiq KhanBoris JohnsonAndy BurnhamLaila Cunningham