It is CCHQ’s strategy to persuade famous figures with Tory leanings to run for the London mayoralty. And they seem to be having some success in this quest, as ex-footballer Sol Campbell has officially confirmed that he will stand to be the Conservative candidate to succeed Boris Johnson.
The first Tory mayoral hustings has been announced, and Campbell – the former England captain – will be partaking. Rumours about the ex-Arsenal defender’s mayoral intentions have been flying around for a while, after a number of interviews and comments revealing his interest in politics, and his enthusiasm for the Conservative party.
He will be up against City Hall functionaries Stephen Greenhalgh and Andrew Boff, and “two additional potential candidates are actively considering” whether to attend the hustings. London entrepreneur and gay rights campaigner Ivan Massow is also running for the Tory candidacy. The hustings will take place on 4 July.
Speaking to The Sun, Campbell said:
I’m going in with my eyes wide open. I know I’m not going to be a frontrunner.
But I look at people who have been in politics for five, 10, 15 years, and muck up, you see them muck up and think ‘You guys are supposed to be pro!’ People that have gone to Oxbridge, had thousands spent on their education, and I mean they are royally mucking up . . .
I come from a working class background, I wasn’t easy for me at all, but I worked hard. And now it’s about giving something back.
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As I reported late last year, the main fear of Labourites in the London Assembly about the mayoralty election is that the Tories will field a “celebrity candidate”.
A character known outside of politics could be what the Conservatives need to beat Labour to controlling a generally Labour-leaning city.
Indeed, some Tories believe the celeb strategy is their only chance against the well-known, experienced politician they’d be up against on the Labour side (at present, the frontrunner is Tessa Jowell). The Tory MP for Westminster Mark Field was frank about this when I spoke to him following the general election:
Given the relatively limited political powers that the role has, it almost lends itself quite well to a quasi-celebrity. And that may well be the route we will take as a party, to be able to have someone who is able to offer that.
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