At the weekend it was revealed that Sadiq Khan’s top aide, Jack Stenner, broke lockdown rules by staying with his parents over the Easter weekend – ignoring the government’s ‘keep outside while meeting up’ rule. Responding to the story, Sadiq offered a less-than-supportive response, saying he was “deeply disappointed” in his director of political and public affairs. If only he’d kept his family affairs out in public he wouldn’t have got in this political mess…
While readers shouldn’t hold their breath any repercussions from Stenner’s boss (he’s announced he’s departing City Hall anyway after the election), not only is this the second time Stenner’s broken the rules, it’s the second time Sadiq’s failed to offer any defence.
In October Stenner travelled to the USA, taking up working for the mayor from San Francisco just three days a week. Since his return, both the Mayor and the GLA have refused to explain how he was able to visit the US – given that since the 16th March 2020 it’s not been possible for British nationals to enter the USA if they’ve been in the UK, Ireland, the Schengen zone and many other countries within the previous 14 days. London was also Tier 2 when he left.
It’s therefore understandable why a furious City Hall source told the Sun:
“Jack has made an absolute mockery of lockdown rules and everyone who has diligently followed them…”
“He seems to think there’s one rule for the rich and powerful and another for the plebs.”
Perhaps it’s time for a rose garden press conference from City Hall…
It’s fairly certain that – bar an extraordinary event – Sadiq Khan will be re-elected on 6th May. It is also overwhelmingly likely that in a relatively distant second place will come Conservative Shaun Bailey. What is less clear, however, is who will achieve the coveted third place. Who will be the least minor minor party? Guido has compiled a list of all the declared candidates:
Minor parties:
- Sian Berry, Green Party. Polling level with the Lib Dems, Sian Berry leads the Green Party and is also standing to retain her seat on the London Assembly.
- Luisa Porritt, Liberal Democrats. Neck and neck with the Green Party, Porrit is the Lib Dems’ second choice for Mayor. She was briefly an MEP between 2019 and 2020.
- Peter Gammons, UKIP. Gammons, who has been associated with faith healing, is currently polling in fifth place.
- Laurence Fox, Reclaim Party. Anti-Woke Fox is standing alongside Reform UK, who are putting up assembly candidates.
- David Kurten, Heritage Party. Elected as UKIP in 2016. Kurten’s Heritage Party stands for traditional family values.
- Kam Balayev, Renew. Anti-Brexit centrist party.
- Mandu Reid, Women’s Equality Party. The party managed to accrue 2% of the vote last time.
- Valerie Brown, Burning Pink. A climate terrorist party born out of Extinction Rebellion, with the stated aim of attempting to abolish representative democracy.
- Winston McKenzie, Unity In Action. Founded in 2017, UIA is McKenzie’s eighth political party.
Independents:
- Count Binface. Stood against May in 2017 and Boris in 2019. Reasonably funny candidate.
- Brian Rose. Podcaster and YouTuber busy plastering London with big posters of his face.
- Piers Corbyn. Corbyn will be standing if he hasn’t been arrested again for publishing antisemitic literature.
- Max Fosh. YouTuber standing with the express intention of beating Laurence Fox.
- Drillminister. Rapper in a balaclava.
- Farah London. Presumably standing due to nominative determinism.
- Nims Obunge. Pastor at the Freedom’s Ark Church in Tottenham.
- Rosalind Readhead. Another climate loon.
Each candidate is required to stump up a £10,000 deposit in order to stand – a sum that will only be returned if the candidate achieves over 5% of the vote. Last time the only parties to retain their deposits were Labour, the Tories, and the Greens. This year’s 17 minor candidates have so far contributed £170,000 to City Hall…
Speaking to Guido on his battle bus, Laurence Fox has revealed for the first time there is to be a pact between Reclaim and Reform UK in the upcoming London election:
“I think Richard’s obviously very into a low-tax, high growth economy, and I’m more focussed on the cultural stuff becuase I think it touches everything, so we’re totally complimentary in that way”
“We spoke about standing somebody from this side of the conversation and we agreed that I would do it because I seem to get punched in the face more often by my political enemies than he does, and he’s going to stand for the assembly”
This obviously confirms that Tice won’t be standing in Hartlepool – good news for the Tories…
Fox also told Guido he will refuse the vaccine until after 2023, when he claims clinical trials will be concluded:
Guido’s also spotted Reform UK’s Richard Tice and Martín Daubney at the launch. Could we be about to see the launch of a pact?
Laurence about to give what he describes as his first stump speech:
“I am not a politician. I never wanted to be a politician. I am a single father and I am an actor, well I was an actor.”
“We are here to reclaim your freedom and we need to unlock London now.”
“Someone needs to unlock London now, and I can tell you one thing: Sadiq Khant. And Sadiq Won’t.”
“Sadiq Khan is ashamed to be British”
“Freedom of speech is under threat in the cathedral of wokery that is London,”
Sadiq Khan raised more than a few eyebrows last night during the London Mayoral election debate, after he outright refused to offer a single word of praise for his opponent Shaun Bailey during the closing moments of the programme. With both candidates asked if they ‘like each other‘, Bailey gave what Guido presumed was the obligatory polite nod of respect to the Mayor, saying “for me it’s not personal, of course I respect Sadiq […] one of the great things about the London Assembly is how collegiately we work”. How kind.
Khan, on the other hand, had no time for his opponent’s civility, instead launching a final blistering attack against Bailey as the credits began to roll:
“I’ve got to be honest, some of the things that Shaun has said Eid, about Diwali, about women, about girls, about multiculturalism, about those that receive benefits, I get deeply upset by. They’re not my values, they’re not London’s values. And I hope Londoners reject those values on May 6.”
Charming. Guido points out that even Donald Trump had something nice to say about Hillary Clinton when asked a similar question back in 2016…
Shaun Bailey has doubled down on his controversial Sarah Evererard disappearance tweet, in which he committed the woke thought-crime of contextualising his worry “as a father and a husband“, and immediately using the disappearance as a springboard to promote his anti-crime agenda. Launching his anti-knife crime agenda this morning, Bailey doubled down on the tweet, telling viewers:
“I don’t regret putting the tweet out because it’s to make people focus on the fact that people have been murdered routinely on the streets of London.”
On LBC this morning, things got worse as he repeatedly came close to prejudicing the current investigation by jumping to various assumptions:
Yesterday another poll came out putting Sadiq on course for a first round victory in May…
