Tories name London mayoral candidate

Shaun Bailey has emerged as the winning Conservative nominee for London mayoral candidate. Bailey, the former adviser to David Cameron, overcame competition from Joy Morrissey, a former actress and councillor in Ealing, and Andrew Boff, a fellow London Assembly member. He was selected to take on Sadiq Khan in 2020’s mayoral election in a ballot of London Tory party members. Bailey said: “It is a great honour to be selected as the Conservative Party’s candidate for the 2020 London mayoral election. “For someone who grew up in a council house in one of the poorest parts of London, securing this nomination is proof that our city truly is the place where anything is possible. “London has given me so much. It’s why I’ve spent my entire adult life trying to repay its generosity, either through my 20-plus years of youth work helping to steer children away from a life of crime and towards work opportunities, or my current involvement on the London Assembly, where I have done my best to hold the current mayor to account.” Bailey has served on the London Assembly since May 2016 and ran for the Tories in Lewisham West at the 2017 General Election, losing to Labour’s Ellie Reeves. Although the issue of crime is expected to dominate his campaign, Bailey has also talked about his approach to housing and pledged to release more land for homes. The vote had to go to a second round after none of the candidates received more than 50 per cent from first preferences. In the first round, Bailey took 3,164 votes (43.2%), Boff received 2,591 (35.4%) and Morrissey took 1,566 (21.4%). Morrissey was eliminated, and after second preference votes were taken into account, Bailey took 3,904 votes to Boff’s 3,186. In interviews with EG, both Morrissey and Boff explained their ideas to improve London’s housing market. Morrissey advocated for “more community investments rather than turning over land to developers for the greatest possible upfront gains”, while Boff slammed Sadiq Khan’s draft London Plan, saying he has “abandoned all targets” for family sized affordable homes. To send feedback, e-mail anna.ward@egi.co.uk or tweet @annaroxelana or @estatesgazette