Mayor should stand down and join forces with me in the Lords

Former Conservative candidate Lord Bailey says it is time for Sir Sadiq Khan to move on reports Kumail Jaffer, Local Democracy Reporter

Shaun Bailey (left, credit Wikimedia Commons) and Sadiq Khan (right, credit GLA) — Shaun Bailey (left, credit Wikimedia Commons) took on Sadiq Khan (right, credit GLA) in 2021.

Sir Sadiq Khan should stand down as Mayor of London in 2028 and instead focus on advocating for the capital in Westminster, a former electoral opponent has said.

Lord Bailey, who ran for the Conservative Party for the top London job in 2021, said the capital needs “a new set of ideas” and that Sir Sadiq, otherwise known as Lord Khan of Tooting after being elevated to the House of Lords, would be better off joining forces with him in the upper chamber of parliament.

The Mayor of London, who was made a peer earlier this year, has still not confirmed whether he will run for a fourth term in City Hall, having first been elected in 2016.

Last week, a YouGov survey found 56 per cent of Londoners think he should step down and allow a different Labour candidate to contest the next election in May 2028.

Lord Bailey, who joined the upper chamber in 2023, has called on Sir Sadiq to step aside and join the long line of current and former City Hall figures represented in the House of Lords.

He said this was primarily down to the aptitude of some of the Mayor’s nine deputies – many of whom are paid over £150,000 a year and often represent him in front of the London Assembly and externally.

“I hope he doesn’t [run again], and I don’t say it for political reasons,” Lord Bailey told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

“I say it because we need a new set of ideas. He needs to take himself off to his next thing, to the House of Lords, wherever it is, and he needs to relieve the city of some of his deputy mayors, who are utterly useless.

“While he’s there, they’ll be there, and I think him leaving will help London out more than people could imagine.”

Both Lord Bailey and Sir Sadiq were nominated for life peerages by outgoing Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Sir Keir Starmer respectively.

Despite also sitting on the London Assembly, where he is the City Hall Conservatives’ housing spokesperson, Baron Bailey of Paddington finds the time to contribute in the upper house, primarily on youth justice, policing and social issues.

“People have a moral stance and that drives most of their behaviour,” he said of his ethos as a peer.

“So I try to look at things and think ‘how does that affect some of the poorest communities I’ve been in in London’?

“Poverty to me is not only a physical reality, but it’s an emotional and mental reality. But if you speak to most poor communities, they’re not revelling in poverty, they’re trying to escape poverty. Middle class, polite academics and politicians always talk about poor communities as if they have no agency.

“If you look at National Insurance, for instance – if you’re in a city earning £400,000 a year, NI contributions changing is going to do nothing for you. If you work for the local chippy or you deliver for Uber, that could be the end of your job.

“People in parliament talk about it as a sort of academic exercise – I’m talking about as a reality of what it’s going to do for jobs for young people and older people in London.”

By focusing full time on the House of Lords, Sir Sadiq could become a powerful ally for those peers focused on improving the life of Londoners, Lord Bailey added.

He said: “Once I stopped being a candidate from here in London, Sadiq and I, we sort of got back to being friends – we have really good exchanges about all kinds of things.

“Up until now, I’ve tried to avoid [our conversation] being about his policies and what he’s done, because I could do that in a chamber with his deputy mayors.

“One thing I’ll say in Sadiq’s favour, is that he has always been quite a fan of the House of Lords, and obviously, if you’re made a peer, it’s bizarre, wonderful, and a privilege, all in the same breath. But I remember when Sadiq came and congratulated me – I really felt he was genuine.

“I walked away from that thinking ‘I think he really means that. I welcome him’.

“One of the things that he and I will genuinely do is work for London. I think for us, that will be natural.

“The other thing I say to him is I look at the effect [policies] will have on poorer communities in London. And if I need an ally to make my point, I expect and hope that he’ll support me.”

After being made a peer last month, a spokesperson for the mayor said he was “honoured” and that “he will devote his time and energy to standing up for our city and building a fairer, safer and greener London for everyone”.

However, it is still not known how much time Sir Sadiq will be able to dedicate to sitting in the House of Lords while he is still in office. It is understood that he will be sworn in as a peer in mid-September and make his maiden speech in the following months.

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