London mayoral race upset as Tory frontrunner Paul Scully fails to make list | Politics | News
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The Conservative Party frontrunner in the London mayoral race, Paul Scully, has this evening failed to make the shortlist.
Selected to be in the final three were Dan Korski, Susan Hall and Mozammel Hossain.
The three finalists are set for a meeting in No10 tomorrow, before moving onto members’ hustings.
Mr Scully, who paused his role as Minister for London to take part in the race, was seen as the favourite to win.
The shortlist is drawn up by a small group of 17 people.
Ms Hall is a serving member of the London Assembly and a former leader of the City Hall Conservatives.
Meanwhile, Mr Korski served as one of David Cameron’s Downing Street aides. He has since become a tech entrepreneur.
Mr Hossain KC, who is the most unknown of the three candidates, is a senior barrister.
Sources within the party have claimed that Downing Street may have intervened against Scully, both to avoid a by-election if he won and also because he had his own campaign team and wouldn’t have been controlled by party headquarters.
It is understood that CCHQ have been privately promoting Mr Hossain because they think they can turn him into “a celebrity candidate”.
One supporter of Mr Scully hit out at the decision, telling the Express: “It’s an act of self-harm and rank stupidity.”