Some of the candidates running for Mayor of London who you might not know about

On 6th May, Londoners will cast their votes to re-elect Sadiq Khan as the mayor of London – at least, that’s what the polls predict.

The incumbent is currently basking in the lead with 63% of the vote, compared to Tory challenger, Shaun Bailey’s 37%.

But there are two days to go until polling day and that is a long time in politics. There’s all to play for, maybe, and the 18 other candidates who have thrown their hats into the ring certainly think so.

But, as not all of them are household names, they may lack the exposure they need to catch up with Khan.

And so, to help level the playing field, here are some of the people running for mayor who you might not have heard of.

Piers Corbyn

Piers Morgan? No, Corbyn. Jeremy? No, Piers! Anyway Piers Corbyn is the businessman brother of the former Labour leader who is famous for his denial of climate change, anti-vaxxer credentials and for peddling the conspiracy theory that coronavirus doesn’t exist. He has been arrested for breaking lockdown and was last year criticised for attending an event addressed by Holocaust deniers. But we’re sure none of that will be on his leaflets.

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Count Binface, Independent

Having failed to become an MP when standing against Boris Johnson in Uxbridge and South Ruislip in 2019, Count Binface – a character created by comedian Jon Harvey – is keeping things more local and crowdfunding the £10,000 needed to stand as mayor. His policies including renaming London Bridge to Phoebe Waller and finally finishing Crossrail, an order so tall it makes it obvious he is a satire candidate.

Peter Gammons, UKIP

We can barely believe it’s not satire but a “motivational speaker” named Gammons is representing UKIP and that’s really all that can be said on the matter.

David Kurten, Heritage Party

Another rather quirky candidate is former UKIP turned ‘Heritage Party’ politician, David Kurten, who is also a member of the London Assembly. He has spoken against Khan’s plan for installing gender neutral toilets and is a staunch support of Brexit. Like Corbyn, he is against both lockdowns and vaccines and vows to bring common sense to politics. We’ll pass.

Laurence Fox, Reclaim Party

Laurence Fox launched his campaign in March. The actor turned ‘activist’ is running against “woke culture” and has pledged that if elected, he will put up more statues(Well thank goodness for that). He has been criticised for participating in anti-lockdown protests, boycotting Sainsbury’s after they created safe spaces for their black employees and defaming a Ru Paul’s Drag Race star by accusing them of child abuse. Wow...

Max Fosh, Independent

YouTuber Max Fosh clearly thinks the same. He is running for mayor with the sole aim to get more votes than Fox and has spent time on the campaign trail thoroughly trolling him. Aside from that, he has no discernable policies and so is already a much better candidate than Fox.

Winston McKenzie, Unity in Action

This mayoral candidate has been a member of every major political party throughout the years, and some minor ones too. He has failed in bids become an MP, the mayor, a London Assembly member and - in 2016 - he saw similar bad luck after he competed on Celebrity Big Brother and was the first contestant to be eliminated, after he was accused of making homophobic comments on the show.

Brian Rose

We’re not sure how well a candidate who has been accused of being a Bond villain will do but Brian Rose is another oddball hoping to take London by storm. He is another candidate who has been fined for lockdown breaches and another candidate with a YouTube channel. Unlike Fosh though, the former banker turned podcaster has used his channel to promote coronavirus misinformation by interviewing conspiracy theorist David Icke. Here is what he had to say about his campaign.

With candidates like these, it is clear citizens of the capital are spoilt for choice.

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