Former London minister Paul Scully doubled down on his criticism of his party’s selection of Susan Hall as the Tory mayoral candidate.
Mr Scully took a swipe at the process on Monday when he announced he would stand down at the next election as Conservative MP for Sutton and Cheam.
Writing on the Conservativehome website on Friday on lessons that the Conservatives need to learn, he said: “We have to show respect to the electorate.
“Our approach to the London Mayoral election showed how we fell short in this.
“The party didn’t start with a job description, looking at the skills and experience of how to be a strategic leader of a global city with an annual budget of some £20 billion and 9 million people.
“As a result, it’s ended up with the front page of the Evening Standard screaming out: “Have the Tories given up on London?”
“Respect is a two-way street. The electorate will treat the party seriously if it shows a greater degree of seriousness itself.”
The Conservative Party declined to respond to his criticism.
The survey put the Labour candidate on 49 per cent and his Tory rival 24 per cent.
The voting system for the mayoralty for the May election is being changed this year to first-past-the-post.
So, the election battle could be closer, as it was between Mr Khan and Shaun Bailey in 2021, than polls suggested.
A number of London MPs are standing down at the general election including Nickie Aiken in the Cities of London and Westminster constituency, Felicity Buchan faces a fight to win the new seat of Kensington and Bayswater, which means that the current London minister Greg Hands could end up being the only Tory MP left in central London.
Professor Tony Travers, of the London School of Economics, has suggested that the Tory Party nationally “gives every sign it’s simply given up on London,” as it seeks to target voters in former “Red Wall” seats in the North and Midlands.
Explaining why he is quitting as an MP, Mr Scully added: “My decision to step down wasn’t based on my prospects in Sutton and Cheam. Forecasts suggest it remains eminently winnable. It’s more about getting detached from the ability to solve problems, to get stuff done.”
He added: “Politics is about public service, not personal survival, unless the latter is there to achieve the former.
“Poll gaps usually tighten before elections as voters focus on their own decisions rather than simply expressing frustrations.”
Mr Scully lost out in the race to be the Tory mayoral candidate.
He recently called out Lee Anderson’s “Islamists” rant against Mr Khan but then sparked a row himself by suggesting there were “no-go areas” in Tower Hamlets and in Birmingham.
He later apologised for the remark, saying he was trying to talk about perceptions of “no-go areas”.
