Jeremy Corbyn says he will ‘have a think’ about standing for Mayor of London as independent
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told an audience at the Edinburgh Fringe he will “have a think about” standing for election as an independent mayor of London.
Mr Corbyn appeared alongside former Unite general secretary Len McCluskey as part of the All Talk event hosted by broadcaster Iain Dale at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre on Saturday.
The 74-year-old already sits in Parliament as an independent, after Labour suspended the whip in 2020 in response to comments he made about a report into antisemitism within the party.
Asked if he was considering a run for the mayoralty as an independent, Mr Corbyn told audience members: “Well let’s have a think about it, shall we?
“I want to see change in our society. I’m not disappearing, I’m not going away. I look at my diary and I’m more active than I have ever been at any other time in my life.”
A change in the voting system used to conduct the London mayoral election could risk splitting the Labour vote should Mr Corbyn stand.
The 2024 election will for the first time employ the first-past-the-post system (FPTP), which replaces the supplementary vote (SV) system. Unlike SV, which allows voters to rank two candidates in order of preference, FPTP requires voters to select a single candidate.
The change is already likely give a boost to the Conservative candidate, Susan Hall, given a smaller number of right-wing candidates run for mayor. The prospect of a high-profile challenge from Mr Corbyn could prove dangerous to Labour’s Sadiq Khan, who is seeking a third term in office despite attacks on his Ulez expansion policy.
Such a challenge would not be unprecedented, with Ken Livingstone becoming London’s first mayor as an independent left-winger in 2000 after failing to become Labour’s candidate under Tony Blair. On that occasion, however, there was no incumbent mayor, and preferential voting reduced the risk of splitting the vote.
Last month, Mr Corbyn told the LBC radio station he was “not ruling anything in and not ruling anything out” about his future in politics.
Mr Corbyn, 74, was unexpectedly elected as leader of the Labour Party in 2015, leading the party to an improved general election performance in 2017.
He resigned immediately after the 2019 general election following a historic defeat.
Mr Corbyn was also asked if he was considering standing in his Islington North constituency as an independent at the next election, which he has represented since 1983.
He said: “I’m very happy and very proud to be the MP for Islington North. I live in the area, I know large numbers of people in the area.
“I have learned a great deal from the people I represent. I am available to represent the people if that is what they wish.”
Mr McCluskey led the Unite trade union while Mr Corbyn was in office and the pair have put together an anthology of poems, Poetry For The Many, to be published in November.
During the event, the men also discussed the war in Ukraine.
Mr Corbyn and Mr McCluskey agreed that the only way forward was for a negotiation to take place between Ukraine and Russia.
Mr Corbyn said: “Where does this war go? More and more fighting, more and more killing. There are a lot of nuclear weapons available.
“We cannot be spectators in watching a wholly unnecessary war spiral out of control that ends up in serious danger of being a nuclear conflict, of which there will be no winners, there will only be losers, but we won’t know who we are because we’ll all be dead.
“That is where nuclear weapons could lead us.”
