Tories’ dereliction of duty to Londoners

WHEN this newspaper endorsed Sadiq Khan for a third term as London’s Mayor, it was not simply because of who he was not: Susan Hall. The Evening Standard believes that Khan was the best candidate, and Londoners agreed by a significant margin. Yet it is difficult to escape from the conclusion that the Tories bungled their mayoral selection, to the detriment of the contest as a whole.

Today, the Standard reveals the full story of how the Conservatives spectacularly failed to deny Khan another four years at City Hall, instead handing the Mayor a swing from Tory to Labour of 3.2 per cent and a lead in votes totalling more than 275,000.

Party insiders blame everything, from infighting and the lack of a positive message, to the decision not to abandon and restart the search for a mayoral candidate. Perhaps most remarkable — but ultimately unsurprising, given the end result — was the accusation that amateur “party apparatchiks” were put in charge of the shortlisting of candidates.

It all reinforces what many Londoners already suspected. That the Conservatives have lost interest in the capital. This is more than an electoral mistake, given that the city is home to nine million people and 75 parliamentary constituencies, up two from the last election. It is also a dereliction of duty by one of the great parties of the democratic world.