Cllr Tony Devenish represents Knightsbridge and Belgravia Ward on Westminster City Council. He is a former member of the London Assembly.
James Cleverly has announced he will stand for selection to (hopefully) become our Party’s Candidate for Mayor of London. There’s no doubt James has the public service experience (British Army, Deputy Mayor of London:Fire, Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary. London credentials (South London born and bred, with a business background) and strong media name recognition.
A clear choice in May 2028: James or a fourth term of Sadiq Khan. Yes, really. I believe Sadiq will be the Labour Candidate – the Burnham No 10 team are risk adverse, they won’t want to create a vacuum and condemn the Labour Party to Dawn Butler or David Lammy. The danger of Butler or Lammy is the Green Party Candidate could end up as the Left’s most credible choice. I know, hard to believe but true in Lefty London. Lord Khan is a known quantity.
Personality and media cut-through are key in a Mayor of London contest – it’s crime and policing, transport and our economy, housing and our environment. An elected Mayor can make a real difference. Here are my suggestions for our manifesto.
Crime and policing: It’s lazy politics to trade blows over crime statistics or police numbers. Public confidence in policing and the judicial system is at an all time low. While our prisons and sentencing regime are not controlled by the Mayor. Rough sleeping and street urination, visible drug dealing, a shop robbery epidemic (I’d ban the word “lifting”) and bus/tube fare evasion is an everyday sight across London. The Middlesbrough car collision death of two police officers and five criminals has reminded the country that just below the surface criminal gangs operate across urban Britain, often with near impunity.The very worse gangs are not in Middlesbrough; they are in Manchester – please note Prime Minister and in London. Drugs are the root cause – ask an A&E NHS doctor.The murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer is embedded in the memory of every women.The Met Police is making some limited progress in reform under the current Commissioner, but poor police officer retention and morale in the Met and the lack of interest, let alone support from a Mayor on policing is line one on Sadiq’s 10 year report card.
One of the excuses, with some justification, Sadiq and the Met offered for the challenge of police recruitment was full employment over the last decade. The Labour Government killed that golden goose; police numbers are still falling. Online crime accounts for nearly half of crime – few believe our analogue police comprehend the digital world, other than a few specialist officers.
The policy I would like the next Conservative Candidate for Mayor to investigate is a form of community service outlined in May 2024, when Rishi Sunak was widely derided for raising community service, with some volunteering for our military. Time (and Putin /Tehran) has proved Rishi right. I would like the next Mayor of London to embrace paid community service – not the pathetic unpaid internships launched at Sainsbury’s by Andy Burnham , John Healey and Sadiq last month.The City of London Police have the best part time Police Specials model in the country – far better than the Met’s. This could form the foundation for Met Police numbers to be significantly increased , including cyber police. Many parts of our civic fabric would benefit from expanding community service and young (and not so young) Londoners would benefit.
This would help our PM’s Devolution pledge.
As a 1987 era Kinnock socialist, Andy Burnham has no idea how to get young people into work. Community service would help rebuild a work ethic. Those who offer work experience will tell you the percentage of those offered work who fail to turn up is enormous. Two of my most vivid memories from 20 years’ as a councillor : are a Westminster Labour councillor complaining that we had proposed long term unemployed living north of Paddington station travel to Piccadilly Circus on the tube (and they were having their tube journey paid for) and I attended a Government conference on worklessness this July and we were told how some unemployed families stopped a family member from getting up in the morning to attend work experience because it disturbed the other family members sleep!
To those who ask where the money will come from: look at the over staffed, but near empty Greater London Authority City Hall in East London. A slimmed down MOPAC (Mayors Office for Policing) is my personal favourite for efficiencies. There are a few of the staff that add value to the Met’s crime fighting duties. But they are the exception.
Transport and our economy. London is blessed with a 19th Century foundations of the best transport infrastructure in the UK. Essential for our global city. We are less blessed by the worst of the 20th Century trade unions , with working practices similar to those faced by the pre-Wapping era newspapers. During a cost of living crisis a costly , over staffed , strike prone , under modernised network with an ageing fleet of trains and an almost bankrupt bus service is not fit for purpose. Driverless tube trains , as the Docklands Light Railway demonstrate must be a priority of our next Mayor. GLA pensions need reform . A final salary gold plated version, rather than the current solid gold and diamond encrusted pension which makes , even other public sector workers envious of Transport for London must be driven through.
Housing – my biggest day to day frustration during my eight years’ as a Constituency London Assembly Member – was Sadiq , like Angela Rayner simply did not understand how a market economy works. Hardly anyone is building homes in London because there is little chance of making money doing so. City Hall’s micro management – demands for every box to be ticked in triplicate and huge additional taxes on top of the highest national taxes since 1945 , means Sadiq’s house building record is an insult to young Londoners. I hope (with all my heart) that the next Conservative Candidate for Mayor looks at giving away plots of public sector land to Generation Rent as a deposit. Those who have contributed a little more to our City , perhaps via the community service policy I set out above ? I accept this idea needs our best minds to fully develop.
Our Environment – Sadiq is not a green Mayor. He has talked (and talked) about environment issues. But he has done next to nothing other than implement the ineffective Congestion Charge tax on cars. After a decade of failure Sadiq is attempting to avoid an Environment Impact Statement for his Oxford Street Mayoral Development Corporation. The next Conservative Mayor must set out policies which help create the conditions for the private sector to create jobs and a liveable City – a key challenge which we have witnessed during this summer’s heatwave. Climate resilience is essential. Sadiq hasn’t even energy retrofitted most GLA owned buildings in a decade in power. I’m sure James Cleverly would take a hard headed , pro-business look at. Green policies do not have to be job destroying and can be job creating and exportable. Not the rubbish we read about in The Guardian.
While I am supporting James Cleverly as our candidate for Mayor, Conservatives do not believe in coronations. They did Gordon Brown and Mrs May no favours. Nor I expect Andy Burnham. James is both a Conservative and a democrat – as he showed during the Party Leadership contest , he welcomes a debate. I hope by the time this article is online CCHQ have set out the selection timetable and other candidates have put themselves forward. The number of new approved parliamentary candidates is impressive. That’s how we road test policies and candidates , that’s how we persuade Londoners to Vote Conservative on 4th May 2028 and again in 2029 for Kemi. Good luck James.