‘Back Bailey to oust "terrible" Khan,’ Conservative candidate tells students

The Tory candidate for London Mayor, Shaun Bailey, joined UCL Conservatives to discuss his vision for the capital, his journey from sofa-surfer to politician, and why he thinks Sadiq Khan has “failed to deliver” for Londoners.

On March 1, Shaun Bailey, the Conservative candidate for London Mayor, joined 18 UCL Tories to discuss his prospects and policies in the upcoming London elections.

Bailey, 49, started the 45-minute-long Zoom meeting by claiming that he decided to challenge Sadiq Khan in City Hall because the current mayor is “absolutely terrible” and added “it is time that somebody offered Londoners some sort of alternative.” 

“In every way you can measure a mayor,” Bailey continued, “Sadiq Khan has failed.”

The Conservative candidate then proceeded to attack Khan’s record on several policy areas.

Bailey, who served as special adviser to David Cameron on youth and crime, argued that Khan “has failed to make London safer,” citing the city’s rise in gun crime during the coronavirus pandemic. 

The Tory hopeful lambasted the incumbent mayor’s record on housing and said Khan “has failed to start [building] even half the homes he promised.”

On transport, an issue of importance to many UCL Tories in attendance, Bailey suggested that under Khan, Transport for London has squandered almost £10 million and left TfL in a state of “financial calamity”.

When one student asked if TfL should be categorised as an essential service to prevent strike action, Bailey agreed.

Bailey’s stance on crime was unequivocal. “Let’s be clear,” he said, “we will be having stop and search, and we will be having bundles of it.” 

Bailey did, however, vow to introduce “scan and search” in a bid to remove some of the aggravation associated with traditional forms of stop and search. This will be able to detect if people possess a weapon before police officers come into direct contact with them.

Bailey was then asked where he stood on the Black Lives Matter (BLM) campaign. 

“The fight for equality for Black people,” Bailey explained, “is probably the biggest noble goal that hasn’t yet been reached.” 

Nonetheless, Bailey said he has “less sympathy” for the “Trotskyites” behind the BLM organisation and highlighted how their goals to defund the police, destroy the nuclear family and replace capitalism was not something he could be in favour of.  

Recently, the Conservative candidate has come under a barrage of criticism for what some claim to be “Donald Trump-style” campaign leaflets, resurfaced comments that said “teenage girls might not get pregnant just to get a flat, but they are a lot less careful because they know they will be looked after on benefits,” and his claim that the homeless can save up for a £5,000 deposit.

However, Bailey spent part of the Zoom meeting explaining to the attendees his own experience of being homeless.

He described the decade he spent sofa-surfing as “awful” and said this had “driven” him in his pledge to build 100,000 more shared-ownership properties for Londoners.

This, Bailey hopes, will also prevent an exodus of young people leaving for more affordable cities, including Bath and Bristol. 

“We don’t want London to be a place where it is impossible to house your family,” he added. 

But Bailey also suggested that his own experience and upbringing has influenced his political outlook more generally. 

Bailey described how he was born to his Jamaican mother in Ladbroke Grove and was brought up in a single-parent household. He then said “coming from one of the poorest communities in London, I fully believe that poor communities need right-wing politics.”

Current polling, however, suggests that Bailey lags far behind Khan in the race for City Hall. 

On January 15, pollsters at Redfield & Wilton Strategies found that the Labour mayor was 19 points clear of his Conservative counterpart in the first round of voting.

The reaction in Conservative Campaign Headquarters also seems to suggest that Palmer Street is becoming increasingly pessimistic about their chances. The City AM reported that the Tories had stripped funding from the mayoral campaign and reduced Bailey’s junior press team to one. 

Bailey denied that this was the case and stated that he raises the funds for his campaign.

Whilst he then conceded that he is “the underdog” in this election race, Bailey believes that he will benefit from a low-turnout and Khan’s “enthusiasm problem” come polling day.

Bailey suggested that much of Khan’s approval rating, which has slumped in the last year, will help his bid because “when people are asked who will do a better job in London … those who know me say me.” 

“I am in an uphill fight but this is a fight I can win.” 

This article is published as part of The Commons Man series, written by Pi Media columnist Jack Walters.