Could Jeremy Corbyn hand the Tories the London mayoralty next year?
In current circumstances the Tories winning the London mayoralty next year seems as likely as Boris Johnson telling the truth however Jeremy Corbyn might just make the former possible if he stands in next year’s London mayoral election.
Normally I would think a Trump supporting, Liz Truss backing candidate would do very badly in London but the Tories shamefully changed the London mayoral voting system from supplementary vote system to first past the post from 2024 onwards, so it is possible to win on say 20% of the vote as the Labour vote splits between Khan and Corbyn paving the way for Susan Hall. Hopefully Labour will promise to undo this insult to democracy by switching back to the supplementary vote*.
If Jeremy Corbyn’s candidacy does help elect a Tory he will experience the wrath of Khan and millions of others on the centre left. Given how many times Corbyn voted with the Tories against the last Labour government he will cement his Red Tory status if he ends up handing the Tories the London mayoralty.
Here’s the latest betting from Betfair, I’m not sure where the value lies other than laying Howard Cox the Reform candidate, despite being a Labour city, London has only elected the Labour candidate three times out of six times in London mayoral elections.
TSE
*Starmer should be bold and propose to pass legislation to change the London mayoralty voting system to the alternative vote system, the fairest voting system that exists. Starmer was elected under AV and Tory leaders since 2001 have been elected under a form of quasi-AV. If it is good enough for Starmer and Sunak then it is good enough for the country.