The Tories need to start winning again in London or Sir Keir Starmer is set for a second term in power, a senior Conservative is warning.
Bob Blackman, chairman of the 1922 Committee of Backbench Tory MPs, also argued that his party needed to set up a “London Conservative brand”, which could differ from the national offer, to regain the trust of voters in the capital.
The Tories now have zero MPs in Inner London, having lost the Cities of London and Westminster, Chelsea and Fulham, and Kensington and Bayswater at the July general election.
“If we want to win back the country, we have got to win back London as well, probably first,” Harrow East MP Mr Blackman told the BBC’s Politics London show.
“We do get the opportunity in 2026 of those all out London elections and I suspect because we are going to be working on this already it’s to make sure we gain back councils and have a strong representation in London.”
The Tories currently only have nine MPs in the whole of London, compared to 57 for Labour, six for the Liberal Democrats, and three independents.
The Conservative losses further highlighted how the party’s national message has been failing to chime with many London voters, with the city shifting increasingly towards Labour, including at council level.
Mr Blackman advocated that Conservatives in London now needed to be able to take a slightly different approach from the national party, as happens with the Tories in Scotland.
“We should have a London voice, a London policy,” he said.
“One of the organizational things for example is that we split up into regions in London, I don’t think that is the right thing to do.
“I think we should have a London Conservative brand, and a London Conservative manifesto.
“We did not have that in this last general election, we need to have that so people know what we stand for and what they are going to get from us if we are in Government, be it the mayoralty election, be it at a general election or be it at local elections.”
He stressed that the Conservatives needed to reach out to all communities with a “clear set of policies” and “clear identity” so the party can have “popular appeal” in the capital.
Professor Tony Travers, of the London School of Economics, has also argued that the Conservatives need to find a way to come up with a “distinctive London offer” if they want to recover in the capital.
With Sadiq Khan having won a third term in office, and flagship Tory councils including Westminster, Barnet and Wandsworth falling to Labour in 2022, some experts now believe Sir Keir Starmer’s party may have reached a high water mark in the capital and that it may now start to lose town halls and MPs.
Florence Eshalomi, Labour MP for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green, said: “Labour will never be complacent, especially in London.
“Yes we have the majority of MPs, and majority of councils, and our fantastic mayor re-elected for the third time, historic time, but there is still a lot of work to do, working with a Labour government now to address some of the issues that we have seen over the last 14 years.”
