Paul Scully with Theresa May on the local election campaign trail in January 2018
(Picture: REUTERS)A Tory government minister is considering a surprise bid to become the party’s mayoral candidate, the Standard can reveal.
Paul Scully, the Minister for London, said he may allow his name to go forward if he thought he was the “best-placed person” to have a chance of defeating Labour mayor Sadiq Khan in May next year.
“I’m ambitious for London but not for me,” he told the Standard and ITV London last night as he declined to rule out rumours within Tory circles that he was interested in running.
He believes Mr Khan’s expansion of the ultra-low emission zone to the Greater London boundary in August, plus a near £40 council tax hike and a six per cent hike in Tube and bus fares - both of which are due to be confirmed next week – will place him at greater risk of defeat.
Mr Khan is seeking a record third term 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.
But the two-vote system to elect the mayor will be ditched next year in favour of traditional first-past-the-post voting, meaning Mr Khan’s support will not be bolstered by Green and Lib-Dem voters making him their second preference.
A new requirement for voters to show photo ID when voting at a polling station is expected to disproportionately discourage Labour supporters.
Mr Scully, who has served as Minister for London under the premierships of Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, believes he can appeal to the Tory stronghold vote in outer London. He said he had not been approached by party leaders and asked to run.
He has been the MP for Sutton and Cheam since 2015 but cut his teeth politically as a Sutton councillor and hospital campaigner.
He has served as a business minister, deputy Tory party chairman and is currently the tech minister in the Department for Levelling Up. He backed Brexit in the 2016 referendum.
Mr Khan and his aides are known to be relaxed about the possibility of Mr Scully standing against him.
Despite being approachable, well-liked and an increasingly assured media performer, Mr Scully is not a political “big hitter” and will have low recognition among the wider London electorate.
Another factor potentially tempting Mr Scully to stand could be the battle he faces trying to save his parliamentary seat in the next election – he has a majority of 8,351 and the constituency was previously held by the Lib-Dems.
But he may wait to see which other candidates put themselves forward before deciding whether to formally enter the race.
Mr Khan was confirmed before Christmas as Labour’s mayoral candidate but the London Tories have yet to set out a timetable to select their candidate.
Andrew Boff, the veteran Tory London Assembly member and fierce critic of Boris Johnson, has already indicated he will make another bid to secure the party’s nomination.
He has accused Mr Khan of being “asleep on the job”, especially in terms of tackling crime, and said: “Londoners are now tired of Sadiq Khan.”
'Londoners have a different view of the world... We need a candidate who can articulate that.'@AndrewBoff, Deputy Chair of the London Assembly, exclusively tells Tom Harwood on GB News that he will 'most definitely' be running in the next London mayoral election. pic.twitter.com/B57Rc57aI5
— GB News (@GBNEWS) January 4, 2023
Lord Greenhalgh, a London Tory grandee, has called for Shaun Bailey, who Mr Khan defeated in 2021, to be given another chance – though any bid would be likely to be compromised by Mr Bailey’s attendance at a Tory Christmas party during lockdown, though police reportedly decided to take no action.
I hope @LdnConservative members persuade @ShaunBaileyUK, who ran Mayor @SadiqKhan so close last time round, to run again. I think he’ll win this time. #Shaun4London 👇 pic.twitter.com/lDY5rlMYZ6
— Stephen Greenhalgh (@team_greenhalgh) December 22, 2022
Some media commentators have called for a high-profile candidate, such as the short-lived chancellor Sajid Javid, who is standing down from Parliament at the next general election, to run for mayor.
