Sir James Cleverly is a former Foreign, Home and Education Secretary, former shadow cabinet member and running to be Conservative candidate for Mayor of London.
This is our best chance to win the London Mayoralty since 2008. Let’s grasp it.
Khan has let London down.
This is still the best city in the world, but other global cities are competing with us, and coasting isn’t an option. Are things better than when he took office? By the time of the election he will have been in place for twelve years, and what will he have to show for it? Higher crime, the lowest level of housebuilding since the Second World War, and some traffic barriers on Oxford St.
The Labour government in Whitehall is increasingly anti-London with a Prime Minister who only sees our great city as a cash cow.
In contrast we have Kemi as party leader who people increasingly see as the most credible alternative.
With the right candidate for Mayor we can win this. We don’t know when or if a better opportunity will come. We cannot afford to miss it now.
As ballots drop today to choose our candidate for London Mayor, I am asking you to vote for me. Not just to beat Khan, but to deliver for our city.
This is too important to get wrong. When London wins, our country wins. Despite what Burnham thinks, London is not in competition with Manchester, or Birmingham or Edinburgh, or Cardiff. We are on the same team. London is in competition with Paris, New York, and Dubai. We cannot build a stronger economy and a stronger country without a stronger London. That requires a Mayor who knows what London needs, and how to deliver it.
In May 2028 Londoners should ask themselves some basic questions. Do I feel safe walking home at night? Can I afford a home or a future here? Do I even want to build a future here? And is this a city I am genuinely proud to live in?
Under Khan, for too many, the answer is no. I want Londoners to say yes.
I will make these questions, these tests, my guiding principles as I set out my plan for London.
I will reverse the recruitment and retention crisis in the Met, and get more officers out on the streets. I will build a modern police force with the resources and backing to enforce the law, robustly.
I will get London building again. More good quality homes where we need them, and at prices that Londoners can afford. London has so much untapped potential. But it is being held back by too much taxation, too much red tape, and not enough vision.
I will get London on the move, calling time on Khan’s war on motorists, and picking up the slack from his time in office. Fixing our roads, fixing our bridges, and reinvigorating our transport network.
London made me. I know what London needs.
I was born and brought up in Lewisham. I went to university in Ealing, joined the army in Woolwich, worked in Soho, Richmond, and Harrow.
I started a business in Shoreditch. I got married here and my sons were both born in Lewisham Hospital too. I served on the London Assembly for Bexley and Bromley. And in Westminster I had some of the toughest jobs in government.
As Party Chairman I helped Boris deliver a record majority in the 2019 General Election. I have promoted London as Foreign Secretary, and defended it as Home Secretary. I am uniquely qualified for the role of Mayor. I know how to win, and I know how to deliver.
When we win in London, we can win across the country too. Kemi’s path to Number 10 winds through London’s boroughs.
This is the opportunity to send a message that the London Conservatives are back. To show Burnham and Khan that we are in it to win. That means picking our strongest candidate, having a big turnout in the selection vote, delivering a coordinated campaign, and governing well from day one.
This is our best chance to win the London Mayoralty since 2008. Help me deliver that win.