Susan Hall is a member of the London Assembly and a councillor in Harrow. She has been shortlisted for the Conservative London Mayoral selection.
A staff member who works with me on the London Assembly was commuting into work on the Docklands Light Railway recently. While on the train, she started watching one of my campaign videos on her phone.
In the video, which was muted to everyone but her, I was explaining why I was the woman to beat Sadiq Khan and sort out the mess he has made at City Hall.
As the video progressed, she noticed someone on the train had been staring intently at her phone. She looked up and instantly recognised the face.
It was Khan. He was scowling, his face like thunder. Not a single word was exchanged between them. But the message was clear: he does not want me to be your candidate.
If the last six years of me battling him on the London Assembly did not make that obvious, then the deep fortifying breath he took when it was my turn at Mayor’s Question Time confirmed it.
I am the one he fears. And that is why I am the one to beat him.
The London Conservative Mayoral selection is coming up soon. Voting opens from 9am on the 4th July, to 11am on the 18th July. If you are a London Conservative member, you will have the opportunity to choose who to put forward to face Khan.
We have to pick someone who can win. The stakes are too high not to.
If Khan gets another term, the ULEZ expansion will devastate families and small businesses, crime will continue to soar, and the housing crisis will continue to push talented young people out of the city.
Meanwhile, Khan will enjoy the perks, go on more trips, and write another useless book.
I can beat him. And I can sort out the mess he has left us.
I know City Hall inside out. I’ve scrutinised the Mayor’s budget, and challenged the Met Police as chair of the Police and Crime Committee.
I have spent decades knocking on doors, in the pouring rain, listening and talking to residents about what they want and need.
And I know Khan. I have faced him for six years. He’s a formidable opponent, a bruiser who relies on smears, division, and spin.
Our positive case has to be matched by a robust campaign attacking Khan’s record. Londoners deserve to know the truth about his failures, and I am the one who has been exposing them for years.
And then there is the fact that I am a woman. It should not be a factor in this race but sadly it is, because Khan has a serious woman problem.
On the Conservative group at the London Assembly, we put out a video showing all of the times that Khan has been rude and condescending to women at Mayor’s Question Time, in a way that he is not to men.
He simply cannot handle being challenged by a woman. He certainly would not be able to handle me.
Khan is beatable in London. In the polls, he is underperforming Labour in London by a double digit margin. Even the most loyal Labour supporters are sick of him.
But we can only beat him if we put the best candidate forward. Someone who can expose him and offer common sense policies that are practical, fully costed, and which can appeal to all Londoners.
I am the one he does not want to face. And that is why I am our best chance of defeating him.