There is fresh turmoil among London’s Conservatives as the party launches a probe into its electoral operations in the capital.
Voters will likely go to the polls both for the General Election and London’s City Hall in 2024.
Now the internal review, news of which was broken by LBC, comes just weeks after Susan Hall’s selection as the Conservatives’ London mayoral candidate.
The internal investigation will focus on the “structures, processes, and organisation of the Conservative Party in London”, but senior Tories also want party chairman Greg Hands to ensure the inquiry covers the selection process to choose their London mayoral candidate.
There’s also suggestion the optics aren’t good after Hall supported former PM Liz Truss’s economic policies.
However, Richard Barnes, the former Conservative deputy mayor of London, told LBC that the probe risked “totally undermining her position”.
The review will be carried out by Lord Udny-Lister, who was Boris Johnson’s chief-of-staff in City Hall and No.10 senior adviser.
His interim report is expected to be completed before autumn conference season.
It follows the Conservatives’ surprise by-election win, by 495 votes, last month in Johnson’s former constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
For the latest, The Leader podcast is joined by Evening Standard political editor Nicholas Cecil.
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