{"id":1177691,"date":"2026-08-30T18:54:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T18:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1177691\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T18:54:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T18:54:22","slug":"james-cleverly-nowheres-safe-in-london-you-cant-run-a-city-you-obviously-hate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1177691\/","title":{"rendered":"James Cleverly: ‘Nowhere’s safe in London? You can’t run a city you obviously hate’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sir James Cleverly<\/a> has said mayoral candidates cannot \u201ccredibly\u201d stand for election to run London while \u201cobviously\u201d hating the city, in remarks which will be interpreted as a swipe at Reform UK.<\/p>\n

The former home secretary, who this week announced he is stepping down as shadow housing secretary to bid for the Conservative nomination for London mayor<\/a>, made the comments when asked about claims from Reform\u2019s mayoral candidate, Laila Cunningham, that the capital is unsafe.<\/p>\n

Cunningham said this week that her children are \u201cpetrified\u201d to visit Shepherd\u2019s Bush following a stabbing, and has frequently characterised London as gripped by crime<\/a>, telling The i Paper last year that there are \u201cno safe parts\u201d in the capital.<\/p>\n

Asked directly about her comments, Cleverly told The i Paper: \u201cI\u2019m not here to talk about her. Let her talk about her and let her justify her statements.\u201d<\/p>\n

He argued responsibility for crime in the capital lay with the current mayor, Lord Sadiq Khan, adding that London\u2019s performance on crime had been \u201can outlier\u201d compared with the rest of the UK during his time as home secretary.<\/p>\n

But he went on to criticise those who often depict London as afflicted by crime, adding: \u201cI don\u2019t think you can credibly be the candidate for mayor of London if you obviously hate the city you\u2019re trying to get elected for. I love London. I\u2019m unapologetic about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Reform UK spokesperson said that if \u201cJames Cleverly thinks that crime is not an issue in London then he\u2019s even more out-of-touch than we originally thought\u201d. <\/p>\n

They added: \u201cLondon needs a mayor that is realistic about the issues the city faces, not one that will turn a blind eye to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Burnham will help me win in London\u2019<\/p>\n

Cleverly, however, insisted the mayoral contest was fundamentally a two-way fight \u201cbetween the Labour Party and the Conservatives\u201d. <\/p>\n

He dismissed suggestions that Reform posed a serious threat to his campaign, adding: \u201cWe can all see that Reform is well past their peak.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, Cleverly turned his fire on Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who he accused of treating London as a \u201ccash cow\u201d and \u201cgoing to war with London\u201d by \u201ctaking hundreds of millions of pounds out of London council\u2019s budgets\u201d.<\/p>\n

Rather than damaging his prospects, Cleverly suggested Burnham\u2019s approach to the capital would work in his favour: \u201cThe Labour Party, and particularly Burnham, with his blatant attack on London, is probably going to be one of my greatest assets in winning the mayoral election if I\u2019m selected as our candidate, because Londoners can see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He argued that Londoners \u201cneed a champion\u201d and would respond to a candidate willing to \u201cfight for London\u201d.<\/p>\n

Cleverly is no stranger to high-profile contests, having unsuccessfully run against Kemi Badenoch to become Conservative leader in 2024.<\/p>\n

Cleverly rules out hopes of becoming prime minister<\/p>\n

Asked whether he hoped to follow in the footsteps of Boris Johnson, who went on to become prime minister after being London mayor, Cleverly dismissed the suggestion.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to be kidding me,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople have been watching too much House of Cards.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said his focus was on ensuring Kemi Badenoch became the next Conservative prime minister, and that winning in London would be \u201ca really important stepping stone\u201d towards that goal.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Cleverly said securing the Conservative nomination was his immediate priority. \u201cI take absolutely nothing for granted,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cLondon deserves someone who is passionate and willing to work hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

His campaign said he had received more than 100 endorsements from councillors, London Assembly Members and MPs within 24 hours of announcing his bid \u2013 around a third of the Conservative Party\u2019s elected representatives in London.<\/p>\n

Cleverly has not yet been confirmed as the Conservative candidate for mayor. Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative Party leader, has said she wants to identify the strongest possible challenger to Khan, or whoever Labour selects, and has invited other potential contenders to come forward.<\/p>\n

The London mayoral election is due to take place in May 2028.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sir James Cleverly has said mayoral candidates cannot \u201ccredibly\u201d stand for election to run London while \u201cobviously\u201d hating…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1177692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7757],"tags":[8916,748,393,4884,80881,257,25229,386,16,15],"class_list":["post-1177691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-london","tag-andy-burnham","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-james-cleverly","tag-london","tag-mayor-of-london","tag-reform-uk","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117185981022899343","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1177691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1177692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1177691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1177691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1177691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}