Zac Goldsmith faces Sadiq Khan for London Mayoralty

Zac Goldsmith has been elected as Conservative London mayoral candidate three weeks after Sadiq Khan was elected by Labour. The battle for London on the 5th May 2016, moves up a gear.

They are both now the front runners in the bid to replace Boris Johnson as Mayor of London. Johnson narrowly defeated Ken Livingstone in 2012 51.5% to 48.5% in 2012. In the 2015 general election, Labour secured 44% of the votes compared to the Conservatives 35%. The Mayor is elected by the supplementary vote method for a fixed term of four years.

Goldsmith took to twitter to say he was “Honoured to be selected as the Conservative candidate for Mayor of London.” Opponent Khan responded to say “Congrats Zac Goldmsith now put Londoners ahead of your Party, join me in opposing the Tories’ Housing Bill.”

In the interests of impartiality we’ll turn to online encyclopedia Wikipedia to describe the key opponents.

It says Goldsmith is: “is a British Conservative politician and journalist who, since 2010, has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Richmond Park. He is the Conservative candidate for the 2016 London Mayoral election. From 1998 to 2007 he served as editor of The Ecologist magazine, whilst continuing as a London campaigner and commentator on environmental issues. He was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Quality of Life Policy Group in 2005, co-authoring its report published in 2007. Goldsmith was placed on the Conservative “A-List” of prospective parliamentary candidates by David Cameron, then-Leader of the Opposition, in 2006.Through an open primary in March 2007, he was selected to contest the constituency of Richmond Park against the sitting MP, Liberal Democrat Susan Kramer. At the 2010 election, he won the seat with a majority of 4,091″ Goldsmith’s Mayoral campaign page is here.

Speaking shortly after being elected on BBC Radio 4’s The World at One, Sadiq Khan said his top priority if elected would be tackle London’s “housing crisis”, ensuring “genuinely affordable homes to rent and buy”.

Wikipedia says Khan is “a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting since 2005. In 2008 he was appointed Minister of State for Communities by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, making him the second-ever British Pakistani to serve in Her Majesty’s Government. He was later the Minister of State for Transport. He joined the Shadow Cabinet of Ed Miliband as Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Shadow Lord Chancellor in 2010. On 16 January 2013 he was also appointed Shadow Minister for London. On 11 May 2015 he resigned from his position in the Shadow Cabinet. On 11 September 2015, Khan was selected as the Labour candidate for the position of Mayor of London.” Khan’s Mayoral campaign page is here.

Siân Berry is the candidate for the Green Party. Berry “is an English politician and member of the Green Party of England and Wales. From 2006 to 2007, she was one of the Green Party’s Principal Speakers. She was the party’s candidate in the 2008 London mayoral election.” Berry’s Mayoral campaign page can be found here.

Caroline Pidgeon is the candidate for the Liberal Democrats.  Pidgeon “is Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom and the leader of the Liberal Democrats in the London Assembly.” Pidgeon’s Mayoral campaign page can be found here.

Other declared candidates

– Petter Whittle, UKIP candidate

– George Galloway, Respect candidate

– Lindsey Garrett, Something New candiate

– Upkar Singh Rai National Liberal Party candidate

– Paul Golding, Britain First candidate