In 18 months of campaigning to win the battle to be mayor of London – spoiler: I didn’t win – I met many thousands of people. One of the most frequent things said to me was, ‘You’re not like a Conservative’ or something similar. Comments like these baffled me from the first to the last. If I’m not a Conservative, then who is? David Cameron used to say that it didn’t matter where you came from; it is where you are going. True. But values matter, too.
When I repeated case studies of Londoners struggling to pay the £12.50 Ulez charge, I was dubbed a ‘Flat Earther’.
Policies are built on values. At hustings events, I would say how ‘London’s values are my values too’, often to a soundtrack of Sadiq Khan laughing to try to belittle me. But I always say what I believe, and I firmly believe this to be true. My values are seen right across London: hard work, fairness, and family. They are the values embodied by thousands of small businesses, Rotary Clubs and Women’s Institutes, in Neasden Temple and my local church, at swimming galas and football clubs, on school bodies and charities, at youth clubs and Men’s Sheds. I believe that these are fundamental Conservative values too.
You might know that I trained to be a mechanic as a teenager in the 1970s. Working in a male-dominated (and chauvinistic) world was hard but rewarding. My Dad grew up as one of thirteen children in a two-bedroom flat before building a successful business from nothing. My grandmother was a seamstress working on a piece-rate basis; my grandfather a butcher at Smithfield market. They, in turn shaped my view of the world. After raising a family and running small businesses over many years, their stories led me into politics and, ultimately the mayoral election.
Commentators wrote me off from the start, but there was always something they and voters could agree on: I was a different sort of candidate. I don’t fit a stereotype and I don’t meet the expectations of what a politician should be. I’m not a professional politician or a human rights lawyer, but a small business owner from Harrow. I never aspired to be a politician, what I always wanted was to make London, my home, better. To get stuck in and fix the things we all saw going wrong.
Yet it wasn’t just my background that some of the ‘armchair generals’ considered odd. As the campaign went on, certain commentators found my straight-talking style and unapologetic conservatism confusing. I offered Londoners a traditionally conservative choice on the ballot paper. My concern for Londoners who cannot afford Sadiq Khan’s environmental policies was met with mocking, sneering and derision from those able to change to an electric car, install a heat pump or cycle everywhere. When I repeated case studies of Londoners struggling to pay the £12.50 Ulez charge, I was dubbed a ‘Flat Earther’.
I championed the motorist not because of a historic love of cars but because a motorist is also a plumber, a caregiver, a nurse, a pensioner, a single parent. They’re not trying to destroy the planet; they’re trying to run their business, get their kids to school, attend a hospital appointment or get to work. They’re just trying to live their lives. Those who decried my campaign against the Ulez and pay-per-mile have not listened to Londoners.
The stories of those impacted by Ulez painted a stark picture of how so-called ‘progressive’ politics often works to the detriment of those it is meant to serve. Low Traffic Neighbourhoods were foisted upon unwilling residents, floating bus stops created a death trap for the less-abled, and 20-mph speed limits reduced our ring roads to a snail-racing track. The ‘War on the Motorists’ is a very real attack on people like me. I will always fight it and urge every Conservative to do likewise.
I believe in strong law and order. The left lampooned my criticism of the collapse into criminality across London. But Londoners want to see our streets safe. I have been a mother of teenagers growing up in London; I know the worry parents have. And I still use the Tube every day to get to work. I know what millions of women feel travelling home in the dark winter evenings. My policing policies would have made a real difference by getting knives off the streets, rebuilding trust in the Met and bringing back borough-based policing. That message resonated everywhere, from the leafy high streets of Highgate to suburban Sidcup.
Nationally, Labour is polling 30 points ahead of the Conservatives. In London, Sadiq Khan won thanks to his Green and Lib Dem friends lending him their votes. By taking home 33 per cent of the vote in London, I outperformed the party, and by taking 44 per cent, even with the votes from the Greens and Lib Dems, he grossly underperformed.
Of course, this wasn’t just me. I will forever be indebted to the army of activists and volunteers who spent week after week in their neighbourhoods, fighting for the Conservatives to be heard in London. Our message was resolutely Conservative, rooted in unashamedly conservative values, and I urge members, activists and politicians across London and our great country to get out there on the doorstep and stand up for those values with pride.
These values don’t just perform well at the ballot box. They are what families across the country feel, believe, and know to be true, and we should never stop fighting for them.
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