The Chairman of the Conservative Party has said that there are ‘lessons to learn’ and there will be ‘a lot of reflection’ as people make their own decisions over whether the Tory candidate for London’s mayoralty, Susan Hall, was the right person to take on Sadiq Khan. On his personal future after more than half of the party’s councillors who stood for re-election across England were defeated, Richard Holden MP said he expects to stay on until the next general election, which is expected later this year.
During an interview with MyLondon at the newly reopened constituency office of Mike Freer MP in Finchley on Thursday morning (May 16), which was damaged by fire in a suspected arson arrack last year, Mr Holden insisted that his party ran ‘a pretty good campaign’ in London and that the team ‘came together’ to support Susan Hall’s bid for the mayoralty.
Asked if Ms Hall was the right person to fight for the capital’s leadership, the North West Durham MP said: “People will make their own decisions and there will be a lot of thought which goes into this, and a lot of reflection over the next few months.” He then claimed that the Tory candidate presented a ‘strong positive message’ as well as an ‘attack message’ on Labour’s City Hall incumbent.
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However there’s no hiding from the fact that a clear majority of Londoners backed Mr Khan for a third term, with him actually increasing his hold on the Mayor’s Office. He secured just over 1,088,000 votes compared to Ms Hall’s just under 813,000.
Mr Holden added that, if London had reflected national opinion polling, Mr Khan would have won by ‘over 30 [percentage] points’. “The fact that he won by just 11 points shows that, actually, in London, there was support for the Conservatives a lot stronger than many people thought,” he added.
Asked if it were a missed opportunity to beat the mayor, given that he had been in post for two terms, Mr Holden said that there were ‘always lessons to be learned’. He would not be drawn on whether there would be any changes to how the party’s candidate for mayor is elected in the future. Mr Holden said: “We’re always looking at keeping the broader processes and how we do stuff under review.”
Results in London ‘not a bad place to start from’
Mr Holden also highlighted that the Conservatives had a 16 percentage point lead in the polls when the party won an 80 seat majority at the General Election in 2019. This year, the Chairman pointed out, the Tories trailed Labour by 11 points in the capital, after previous polls put Mr Khan more than 20 points head.
“That’s not a bad place to start from,” he added, “into the elections for MPs this year.” He is especially optimistic about colleagues’ chances in Outer London, where a number of Tories hold House of Commons seats.
Mr Holden said: “It’s quite clear that, in the Outer London boroughs, those seats which Conservatives hold, or some of those seats, a few seats around in Central London [were] actually a lot closer than people thought.” He cited council by-election results in Putney East, Frognal, Sutton and Cheam and Croydon.
He added that a by-election in Uxbridge was ‘significantly better’ than the Conservatives’ parliamentary by-election win in Uxbridge and South Ruislip in the summer of 2023.
On his personal future, Mr Holden said: “My job is to just get the best results possible in whatever circumstances we face. I will be out there campaigning every day, right until the General Election, doing everything we can to win.”
Labour launches six pledges ahead of election
It comes as Labour launched launched its doorstep offer to voters on Thursday (May 16) ahead of a General Election. Six steps include measures to invest in the NHS, education and policing, to set up a new national energy company and an elite border force, and to promote economic stability.
After the mayoral election result was officially declared on Saturday, May 4, a spokesperson for Mr Khan said: “Sadiq has increased his share of the vote in places in both Inner and Outer London. Londoners have clearly rejected the overwhelmingly negative and divisive campaign run by the Tories.
“Labour’s positive campaign resonated with Londoners, focusing on Sadiq’s cost-of-living offer of universal free school meals and keeping fares low, as well as his world-leading green action.”
Relive London’s local elections and view the full results by viewing our live blog of Saturday, May 4, here.
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