Green grocer and ex-SAS commander hoping to kick Sadiq Khan out of office

Telegraph

5 hours ago

After nearly a decade in power, Sir Sadiq Khan's rule as Mayor of London is coming under increasing scrutiny.
With YouGov polling showing that crime, housing and health are seen to be getting worse in the capital, inventive politicians are now taking the fight to Sir Sadiq with viral video campaigns.
The most high-profile example of this was Robert Jenrick's video of fare-dodging on the Tube, which showed the shadow justice secretary confronting rule-breakers.
But while Mr Jenrick's team have ruled him out of any Tory mayoral race, other 'law and order' challengers to Sir Sadiq are also emerging on social media.
They include a viral greengrocer, a former Royal Marines commando and a heavyweight boxing champion.
Born in Romford, a traditional Tory voting part of outer London, Thomas Skinner began working as a market trader in East London at the age of 16 and later appeared as a candidate on The Apprentice, Sir Alan Sugar's business-based reality TV show.
In his early career he was found guilty of handling £40,000 worth of stolen goods while working as a market trader.
He has said of the spent conviction: 'I've made mistakes, in fact more than most, who hasn't made one?'
Mr Skinner has since gathered a large following on social media for his jolly videos in which he discusses, in his thick Essex accent, the joys of having a 'cheeky pint' following a day of 'hard graft'.
Yet in recent months, he has increasingly focussed on political issues, declaring 'I love Trump' and claiming 'London has fallen' under Sir Sadiq's mayoralty. He has also been involved in knife crime campaigning.
'London has fallen'
Last week in a post that prompted speculation about his ambitions for public office, Mr Skinner railed against the decline of law and order in the capital and a loss of 'community'.
'London has fallen. But I'm not giving up on it,' he wrote, claiming that 'people are scared', 'it ain't safe out there anymore' and ' London don't feel like London no more '.
'We need leadership that understands the streets, the markets, the working class. People like me,' he wrote, opening the door to a potential mayoral run.
It is understood Mr Skinner currently has no firm plans to run for office and is not affiliated with any political party.
But Mr Skinner, who maintains 'I'm not a politician', nevertheless says he has been approached by three political parties in recent weeks.
The Telegraph also understands that since he made the post, Mr Skinner has been contacted by members of the Prime Minister 's team.
The call was intended to discuss the Government's plans for more skilled apprenticeships for those who, like Mr Skinner, left school at 16.
But the attempt to reach out to a popular and rising voice of opposition could be taken as another Labour attempt to head off the threat from Reform.
Reform sources say the party will likely fight the next London mayoral election with a focus on law and order, taking inspiration from the political battles over spiralling crime in 1980s New York City.
Another figure spoken of as a Reform London mayor is Ant Middleton, the former Royal Marines Commando who made his name on military-based reality TV show SAS: Who Dares Wins.
Mr Middleton has said 'it's inevitable that I'm going to be the next Mayor of London' and has already set out a raft of possible policies for the capital.
These include introducing a 'Military Guard Unit' on the streets of London to 'be a reactive and deterrent force on the ground'.
He suggested such a unit would only accept 'British applicants' and its task would be 'to uphold the values, principles and standards of what our great nation represents'.
Mr Middleton endorsed Reform at its conference in September following the general election. He has since grown close to the party's leadership and even visited Washington DC with Nigel Farage for the second inauguration of Donald Trump.
In March the UK Insolvency Service banned Mr Middleton from being a company director over unpaid taxes.
Derek Chisora, the Zimbabwe-born heavyweight boxer, is spoken of as another possible mayoral candidate for the party.
It is understood that Mr Chisora, a longstanding supporter of Reform UK and its predecessor the Brexit party, has been inspired by the success of fellow boxer Luke Campbell who won the Hull mayoral election for Reform in May.
In January Mr Middleton and Mr Chisora both attended a slick fundraiser for the party at the Mayfair private members' club Oswalds.
In previous elections Sir Sadiq benefitted from a ranked-preference voting system in which ballots cast for other Left-wing candidates would eventually end up in his pile.
However mayoral elections are now largely fought according to first-past-the-post.
It was the first-past-the-post system that nearly crowned Arron Banks, the billionaire Reform supporter, as mayor of the West of England in May.
Despite the Left-wing bent of Bristol, the biggest city in the area, votes were scattered between Labour, Greens and Liberal Democrats with Mr Banks achieving an impressive second place and being just 6,000 votes away from taking power.
In the capital, Reform is now projected to replace the Tories as the major political force in outer London if current polling numbers are reflected in the next parliamentary and Assembly elections in Greater London.