Tory chiefs will meet on Monday night to discuss fast tracking a candidate to take on Sadiq Khan at the next Mayoral election.
The party’s London board is meeting with Conservative Campaign Headquarters to lay out plans to have their contender in place by July.
Senior Conservative officials are believed to want someone with “star power” to take on Labour’s Sadiq Khan, who will fight for a historic third turn at the election next May.
One Tory source told the Standard that “someone like” West Ham vice-chairman and Apprentice star Karren Brady would be a “perfect choice”.
The Conservative life peer said she had no plans to take up elected office in 2013 but has more recently refused to rule out running to lead City Hall.
“She has the star power needed to defeat the incumbent Labour Mayor,” a Tory insider said.
“We need someone like that if we are going to win.”
TV judge Rob Rinder was also touted as a potential candidate by a Sunday newspaper, however he this morning distanced himself from the report.
Government minister Paul Scully has told the Standard he is considering running.
The Sutton and Cheam MP has said the controversial expansion of the ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) to outer London boroughs, plus a near £40 council tax hike from City Hall and a six per cent hike in Tube and bus fares will place Mr Khan at greater risk of defeat.
London Assembly members Andrew Boff and Nick Rogers, former Lewisham councillor Duwayne Brooks and Boris Johnson’s ex special advisor Samuel Kasumu have also indicted they would like to run.
Conversations at the meeting tonight will focus on compiling a long-list of contenders.
The fast-tracking plan is subject to approval by the London board.
Any decision on a final candidate will go to a vote of London members after a hustings, a Conservative party source said.
Next May Mr Khan will seek a record third term in City Hall after two resounding victories in 2016 and 2021, in which he secured the two biggest winning majorities in the history of the mayoralty, 315,529 and 228,433 respectively.
However, London Tories have cited Mr Khan controversial Ulez expansion to the outer London boroughs as their “best hope” of winning over voters at the next election and taking control of City Hall for the first time since Boris Johnson’s leadership from 2008 to 2016.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has hinted that the fight against the clean air zone will be an instrumental part of the Conservative’s election campaign in the capital.
Five Tory-run councils - Bexley, Bromley, Harrow, Hillingdon and Surrey Council- cleared the first hurdle of their legal fight against the Ulez earlier this month.
The party also believes it could be boosted by a change to the first past the post voting system, whereby the winner is decided by a simple majority.
Currently, London’s mayor is elected through a more proportional system where voters pick a first and second preference choice.
