Laila Cunningham put law and order at the heart of her pitch to become Reform’s first mayor of London today.
And well she might, as it is an area in which the 48-year-old has extensive experience.
The former CPS prosecutor was once labelled a ‘vigilante mum’ after tracking down and chasing muggers who targeted some of her seven children.
Now she is hoping she can channel her frustration at what she says is a surge of violent crime in the capital into a political journey that sees her take over City Hall in 2028.
Nigel Farage is pinning his party’s hopes on the Westminster City councillor being able to beat Sadiq Khan – or whoever Labour’s candidate is – to break its 12-year grip of power on the capital.
In some ways Ms Cunningham is an unusual choice for Mr Farage’s right wing party. She is a practicing Muslim whose parents were migrants who fled Nasser’s Egypt in the 1960s.
She was born in West London and has four children with her first husband and another with her second, plus two stepchildren.
But in other ways she fits the mould – she was, until the middle of last year, a member of the Conservative Party who won her council seat in 2022.
She was due to be the Tory candidate for Rotherham at the 2024 general election before withdrawing, with the party not fielding a candidate.
But she crossed the aisle to become part of a group who dubbed themselves ‘Farage’s Filies’, a group of female elected politicians tough on law and order.
Nigel Farage is pinning his party’s hopes on Laila Cunningham on being able to beat Sadiq Khan – or whoever Labour’s candidate is – to break its 12-year grip of power on the capital
She was due to be the Tory candidate for Rotherham at the 2024 general election before withdrawing. She later crossed the aisle to become part of a group who dubbed themselves ‘Farage’s Filies’
Ms Cunningham left her job at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in June last year after she made a series of politically charged comments while announcing her move to Reform.
Her role as a prosecutor bound her by strict rules limiting political activity that could be seen to compromise impartiality, in line with those followed by civil servants.
After Ms Cunningham’s comments to The Standard newspaper were published, the CPS said she had offered her resignation and it had been accepted.
She has since said she was called in for a meeting and told she may have breached the Civil Service code of conduct.
The councillor for Lancaster Gate ward accused both Labour and the Conservatives of failing on crime, spoke out about spiralling national debt, criticised net zero policies, and accused political leaders of leaving Londoners ‘angry and frustrated’ in the interview.
Ms Cunningham told the newspaper: ‘It’s a dereliction of duty that there’s not more policing, more access to police, and that’s what I want to see a change.’
It was a theme to which she returned today as she attacked Sadiq Khan’s time in charge of the capital since 2016.
She said crime in London was ‘not theoretical’ for her family as she described tracking down balaclava-clad muggers who she said targeted her children after police failed to help her.
The former CPS prosecutor was once labelled a ‘vigilante mum’ after tracking down and chasing muggers who targeted some of her seven children
Ms Cunningham said: ‘I followed the gangs. I took photos because they were all in balaclavas. Their shoes were very distinct.
‘I protected my family when the state couldn’t, the press called me vigilante mum, but I should never have been put in that position.’
Pressed about a claim she wanted to restore London to its ‘glory days’ and when she thought those glory days were, Ms Cunningham referred to ‘when I was growing up’ in the 1980s and 1980s.
She added: ‘When I was growing up, I wasn’t scared to walk down the streets. I knew my local bobby. In fact, when I was growing up, my local teacher lived next to me. Now she can’t afford it. My local bobby lived next to me, now he can’t afford it.’
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The ‘vigilante mum’ (of seven) running to be Reform’s London mayor: Laila Cunningham is the Muslim daughter of migrants Farage hopes can beat Sadiq Khan