London mayoral debate: Shaun Bailey savages Sadiq Khan over crime

The debate, on BBC London last night, also saw the pair go head-to-head on the pandemic, transport, air quality and council tax
Daniel Hambury/AdrianLourie

The gloves came off during the first TV debate of the race for City Hall — with the two main contenders trading blows over lockdown and crime.

Conservative candidate Shaun Bailey said Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan had “absolutely failed” to reduce crime and the streets were “not safe” for women or black Londoners. Mr Khan accused his rival of being a “lockdown sceptic”.

The debate, on BBC London last night, saw the pair go head-to-head on the pandemic, transport, air quality and council tax. Mr Khan said Mr Bailey was “talking down London” while he was “standing up for London”. Mr Bailey said only he could provide a “fresh start”.

Shaun Bailey: Sadiq Khan has “absolutely failed” to reduce crime
BBC

Mr Bailey said the Mayor “went missing” at the start of the pandemic and sowed “confusion” in the minds of many Londoners about whether it was safe to use public transport — worsening the hit to the capital’s economy.

He accused the Mayor of “flip-flopping” over lockdown and said: “He needs to look people in the eye and tell them where their jobs have gone.”

Mr Khan’s aides said his strongest line of attack, based on social media reactions, was on Mr Bailey’s past comments on minority groups in London. Mr Khan accused his main rival of “encouraging people to go to work when it wasn’t safe to do so” and pointed to the 18,000 Londoners to die in the pandemic.

Sadiq Khan: Shaun Bailey was a “lockdown sceptic”.
BBC

Asked by presenter Tim Donovan whether he respected Mr Bailey, Mr Khan replied: “I’ve got to be honest - some of the things Shaun has said about Eid, about Diwali, about women, about girls, about multiculturalism, about those who receive benefits, I get deeply upset by.

“They’re not my values, they’re not London’s values and I hope Londoners reject those values on May 6.”

Today experts told the Standard that both candidates showed strengths and weaknesses, as the rival camps claimed victory. 

Professor Tony Travers, of the London School of Economics, said: “My overwhelming sense was that it was very scratchy, ill-tempered, certainly not a joyful experience to watch.

“I’m not sure whether Shaun Bailey is [a “lockdown sceptic”]. He prioritises the economy more directly than health. With Sadiq Khan, it’s the other way round.

“Sadiq Khan simply needs to ‘hold the line’. We know he is well ahead in the polls. He had a look, when Shaun Bailey was speaking, of bemused disbelief.”

Paul Scully, the Tory minister for London, said Mr Bailey was “very upbeat” after the debate. He said: “I thought Shaun did really well. He was definitely on the front foot.

“It’s probably the first time in [five] years that Sadiq Khan has not been able to control the agenda. He was decidedly uncomfortable.”

BBC

On crime, Mr Bailey referred to the recent admission from Mr Khan, in the wake of the Sarah Everard case, that London was not safe for women and girls. He referred indirectly to the killing of 22-year-old aspiring lawyer Sven Badzak in Kilburn in February.

He pledged to recruit an extra 8,000 Met police officers – 6,000 of them from the Government’s pre-pandemic pledge to increase the number of officers by 20,000 across the country – and to put CCTV cameras on every bus stop.

But Mr Khan said Mr Bailey’s past job as a youth and crime advisor to David Cameron meant he had responsible for cutting crime budgets 15 years ago.

“When I hear Shaun speaking [about crime], it’s like an arsonist who lights a flame complaining because the fire brigade can’t put out the fire quick enough” he said.

Mr Khan said there were “1,000 more police officers” in London now than when he became mayor in 2016. In fact, there has been a rise of 772, according to City Hall data. 

Stefanos Koryzis, a political analyst at London Communications Agency, said Mr Khan appeared “low energy” but “more practised, more polished and more in control of the facts”. 

He added: “His attacks on Bailey’s record as a special adviser at No10 when policing cuts were being hatched were piercing… Conversely, I do think this is one of Bailey’s better overall performances. Energetic, passionate, ‘relatable’ as always, but a bit more disciplined in his speech than I’ve seen him previously.”

BBC

Ben Page, chief executive of Ipsos Mori, said: “Obviously most of the electorate weren’t watching and probably also won’t vote in the mayoral election, which means this is both men playing for their activists and core vote.

“What was interesting to me was how in London the national Conservative culture ‘war on woke’ - which works with ex-Labour voters up north - just has very little traction.

“So Khan pointing out how Bailey’s past remarks on aspects of multiculturalism sit uneasily in a city where most people say one of the best things about it is the mix of people here was effective.”

Labour MP Wes Streeting said: “Shaun Bailey’s record of lockdown scepticism and catalogue of offensive remarks about women and London’s diverse communities were shown up.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in