James Heale
All good Tories are wary of that word ‘inevitable’. But few things were more foreseeable in politics than James Cleverly running for Mayor of London. The Essex MP will quit Kemi Badenoch’s shadow cabinet in order to stand for City Hall in 2028. Writing for the Sunday Times, Cleverly says he needs to ‘be free to speak about every aspect of London’s future and concentrate fully on winning this race’. The capital, he suggests, ‘needs more than an administrator’, in order to ‘rebuild its reputation and make it, once again, the best place in the world to live, work, invest and build a business.’
It is little secret in Tory circles that Cleverly covets the role of mayor. Having held two of the Great Offices of State and failed in his bid for the Conservative leadership, there are few prizes left to be won in Westminster. He returned to the shadow cabinet last year but his heart was never thought to be in his brief of shadow housing secretary. A telling sign perhaps was his trusted former aide Callum Price choosing this summer to join the team of Mel Stride rather than return to Cleverly’s side. Various MPs report that he has been canvassing opinions on his chances in the Tea Room. ‘He’ll be a great candidate,’ says one. ‘Shows the party is taking London seriously.’
