James Cleverly kicks off London mayor bid with taunts at Sadiq Khan

Sir James Cleverly has announced he plans to run for Mayor of London – while mocking Labour incumbent Sir Sadiq Khan as having ‘lost the passion for the job’.

The top Tory revealed on Saturday he was stepping down as leader Kemi Badenoch’s shadow housing secretary in order to kick off the bid.

In an interview with the Times, he said the Conservatives needed a ‘credible big hitter’ to bag the capital at the next mayoral election, which will take place in 2028.

Boris Johnson is the only Tory to have held the position, securing two victories over Labour’s Ken Livingstone in 2008 and 2012.

But Khan has decisively beaten three successive Conservative candidates in the past three elections: Zac Goldsmith in 2016, Shaun Bailey in 2020, and Susan Hall in 2024.

He has not ruled out running in the next election too, which would extend his record-breaking tenure in the position.

Cleverly said it ‘wouldn’t surprise me if [Khan] bows out for 2028’, accusing him of being ‘asleep at the wheel’.

He told the Times: ‘Sadiq has been trying to get out of that job for quite a while. He went in with the intention of doing what Boris did, using it as a high-profile platform to get him his next big job in government.

‘There has been lots of posturing, very little delivery. Lots of picking rows with the president of America, less focus on bringing down street crime.’

His comments were a reference to long-running beef between the Sadiq Khan and Donald Trump, who has described the Mayor as ‘grossly incompetent’ and a ‘horrible representative for the UK’.

Following those comments in June, Khan told Metro: ‘Another day, another example of President Trump’s obsession with me. He’s clearly got a man crush on me.

‘I am living rent-free inside his head, and you can see why.’

James Cleverly previously served as foreign secretary under Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, before being moved to the Home Office for the final nine months of the Conservative government.

When Sunak stepped down following the 2024 general election, he ran to become party leader but came third behind Badenoch and Robert Jenrick, who is now Reform’s Treasury spokesman.

Cleverly will still need to win the Tory nomination for the election before he becomes the party’s official nominee.

In a post on X, Reform leader Nigel Farage suggested Cleverly’s move was prompted by nerves over the prospect of losing his seat at the next election.

He wrote: ‘James Cleverly will not be the first Tory MP to give up any hope of winning their seat in Essex. They are done for.’

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