Who will Labour’s London mayoral candidate be? Some commentators have marked Diane Abbott down as the surprise favourite after she topped a YouGov poll of Labour supporters this week, but a better bet is Sadiq Khan. The shadow justice secretary and shadow London minister, who is almost certain to stand, has finished first in a new poll of LabourList readers (sample size: 772).
Since the candidate will be predominantly selected by Labour activits (with others paying a small fee to take part in the closed primary), the survey is likely a better guide to the result than the YouGov poll. It puts Khan on 22 per cent, with Tessa Jowell on 17 per cent, Abbott on 15 per cent, David Lammy on 7 per cent and Andrew Adonis (who most suspect is eyeing the post of transport commissioner) on 5 per cent.
As shadow London minister, Khan has the in-built advantage of being able to regularly meet activists and CLPs and was rightly praised for Labour’s remarkable performance in London in the local elections (its best result since 1998). He has also stood out as one of the loudest champions in the shadow cabinet of radical action to reduce inequality, including the revival of collective bargaining. His recent Fabian pamphlet Our London was the first to float the idea of a cap on rent increases (since embraced by the party at large) and a ban on letting agent fees. As Ed Miliband’s former campaign manager, Khan will also be the unofficial candidate of the Milibandites. Should the Labour leader become prime minister next May, he will be in an even stronger position to win the nomination.
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