How May’s London elections are shaping up as Sadiq Khan goes for second term

Clean cut and hard working, Sadiq Khan is not from the mould of his more colourful predecessors as London’s mayor, but that is not counting against him as he runs for a second term amid the most severe challenges the city has faced for 75 years.

The Labour Party politician - the son of Pakistani immigrant parents - faces challenges from a long list of would-be successors, including an actor, a YouTuber, a pastor, and an American former banker turned podcaster.

The elections on May 6 will be the sixth since city-wide government was restored to the British capital.

The previous mayors, Labour’s Ken Livingstone and Conservative Boris Johnson, were larger than life characters with national profiles that transcended politics.

Shaun Bailey, the long-serving Conservative assembly member, is carrying the banner for the ruling party in national government.

The former social worker has struggled in the polls. He has promised a tough take on crime as well as a reversal of Mr Khan’s recent increase of the congestion charge.

However, the rate hike was forced by the current government as part of Transport for London (TfL) finance negotiations with the mayor’s office and it is unlikely that a change of heart will be negotiated by the next mayor, whatever the party stripe.

Current polls put Mr Bailey far behind Mr Khan and the former has faced some criticism for controversial campaign tactics, including the distribution of literature making disputed claims about tax rises, and what some felt was an intervention politicising the recent murder of Sarah Everard.

Also challenging the incumbent mayor is Piers Corbyn, the 73-year-old brother of former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and a Covid-sceptic who is facing 10 criminal charges over anti-lockdown protests.

He shares similar anti-vaccine views to Laurence Fox, who launched his mayoral campaign on a similar "free speech, anti-lockdown" platform for his newly-formed Reclaim Party.

Since launching his new political party late last year, Mr Fox has promised to fight what he calls “anti-British” and “woke” culture wars curtailing people’s freedom of speech and expression.

The former husband of pop-star turned actress Billie Piper is active across social media and has received broad-based press coverage for his controversial views and high-profile involvement in anti-lockdown marches.

The American and the 'posh boy'

Dubbed by some as the “UKIP for culture,” the Reclaim Party’s mayoral candidate will face competition on the ballot paper from Peter Gammons who is standing for UKIP.

Max Fosh, the YouTuber and self-proclaimed “posh boy” who attended the same school as Laurence Fox, announced his candidacy in a video on Twitter in which he said his primary reason for running was to gain more votes than the actor.

He is one of 10 candidates running as independents.

Brian Rose, whose suit and tie image has appeared on billboards across London recently, is a former banker turned online ‘host’ through his channel London Real, which has more than two million YouTube subscribers.

Pick and mixing from other candidates, the American also tends towards a lockdown-sceptic position and says he plans, if elected, to reverse the congestion charge and put 10,000 police officers on the streets.

Other candidates are Liberal Democrat Luisa Poritt and Mandu Reid for the Women’s Equality Party. Ms Reid is the first black leader of a UK political party.

Also in the race is Sian Berry for the Green Party. This will be the third mayoral candidacy for Ms Berry who finished third in 2016 and fourth in 2008.

Too many mayoral candidates on ballot?

The record number of candidates this year can be explained, in part, by the fact that this time only two voter signatures were needed for each of the 32 London boroughs plus the City of London, rather than the previous 10.

Voters will head to the polls a year after the original election date was postponed due to the pandemic, in what might be the last in its current form. The mayor of London is elected through a preference vote, with two candidates going through to the second round if no one gets more than 50 per cent of the primary vote.

There are some concerns that voters may be confused by the number of candidates which will require their names to be listed along two columns, instead of the usual one, on the ballot paper.

Elections will also be held for the London Assembly, the 25-member body that meets at City Hall and whose job is to scrutinise the mayor.

A mayoral review 

Speaking at an online event hosted by the website OnLondon, three long-standing members of the London Assembly suggested it needed a voting overhaul itself.

“I have always believed that if we are to have an assembly, the members should all be directly elected, one per borough, so that those elected members should actually have a constituency,” said Tony Arbour, a Conservative member and deputy chairman of the London Assembly.

Currently, members of the assembly are elected every four years under a proportional representation system.

There has also been criticism that the two-thirds majority needed to amend or reject the mayor’s budget and strategies is too restrictive.

Jeanette Arnold, who has been a member of the London Assembly since 2000, when the governing body was first established, questioned whether it could survive in its current structure.

“I do believe there has to be a greater lock on mayoral power, if you like that there has to be a sense where the mayor is required to listen and act appropriately based on the recommendations made by members of the city council,” said the Labour representative, who was awarded an OBE in 2010 for her services to local government and the community of London.

The online panel ended with the original Assembly members, who were standing down after a collective 63 years of service to London, reflecting on their experiences with the three different mayors elected since the post was first established.

In surprising cross-party unanimity, they all praised Ken Livingstone, the first person to hold the post. “In my opinion Ken was undoubtedly the best,” said Mr Arbour, adding that he found the former Labour Mayor charismatic, likeable and “willing to get on with all of us.”

Mr Livingstone, who is credited with spearheading the bid to bring over the Olympics, was also lauded for his passion for the city. “He genuinely loved Londoners, and loved talking and relating to London, he loved people from that point of view,” said Ms Arnold.

In a slightly more critical take towards Boris Johnson, whom she admitted to sending off to gender awareness training during his tenure as mayor, Ms Arnold nevertheless called the now-prime minister “one of the most charming people that you could meet”.

“He hadn't been in local government. He wasn't a Londoner. But I thought it took him only about three months really to grasp things," said Mr Arbour of Mr Johnson, who took up the London leadership role in 2008.

"He might not have grasped them in depth. But he was able to understand and he was able to sit at question time on his own.”

While he called the current mayor “able and clever,” Mr Arbour said he found Sadiq Khan to be more of a “machine politician” than the two former mayors he had worked with.

Nicky Gavron, a Labour member and the first statutory deputy mayor of London under Ken Livingstone, praised the current mayor’s “focused” approach in light of the difficulties he has faced in the capital during his tenure, including the 2008 financial crisis, Brexit, terrorist attacks and the pandemic.

“I don't think any man has worked as well as he's now working with the London councils. And the way he's brought in all the stakeholders, the way he's breaking down the silos and looking across these missions. And the way he's working internally and externally, I think is excellent," she said.

2021 London mayoral election - five facts

• The last day to register to vote for is April 19
• The last day to register to vote by post is April 20
• Voting will take place on Thursday May 6 at your local polling station between 7am and 10pm
• Voters will receive three ballot papers: one for the Mayor, one for the London-wide Assembly Members and one for the Constituency Assembly Members
• The results are expected on May 8 or 9.