When this newspaper endorsed Sadiq Khan for a third term as London’s Mayor, it was not simply because of who he was not: Susan Hall. The Evening Standard believes that Khan was the best candidate, and Londoners agreed by a significant margin. Yet it is difficult to escape from the conclusion that the Tories bungled their mayoral selection, to the detriment of the contest as a whole.
Today, the Standard reveals the full story of how the Conservatives spectacularly failed to deny Khan another four years at City Hall, instead handing the Mayor a swing from Tory to Labour of 3.2 per cent and a lead in votes totalling more than 275,000.
Party insiders blame everything, from infighting and the lack of a positive message, to the decision not to abandon and restart the search for a mayoral candidate. Perhaps most remarkable — but ultimately unsurprising, given the end result — was the accusation that amateur “party apparatchiks” were put in charge of the shortlisting of candidates.
It all reinforces what many Londoners already suspected. That the Conservatives have lost interest in the capital. This is more than an electoral mistake, given that the city is home to nine million people and 75 parliamentary constituencies, up two from the last election. It is also a dereliction of duty by one of the great parties of the democratic world.
Good news on growth
A collector’s item for those who follow Office for National Statistics releases closely — the UK economy has surprised on the upside. GDP grew by a stronger than expected 0.6 per cent in the first quarter of this year, well and truly ending the shallow recession at the end of 2023.
This will be welcome news for the Prime Minister and Chancellor, whose economic message now appears to be that the economy has turned a corner, and voters should stick with the plan. Yet it is also a positive development for the Leader of the Opposition.
Timing is everything in politics, and if the polls are correct, Sir Keir Starmer looks set to enter No 10 later this year just as interest rates start to fall and the economy comes back to life.
Mamma Mia!
It is a good news-bad news situation. On the one hand, this weekend’s Eurovision Song Contest held in Sweden marks 50 years since Abba stunned the world with their rendition of Waterloo.
On the other, that would make 1974 half a century ago — a statistic which, like quarterly GDP figures, must surely be subject to revision.
