How can Londoners back a Tory candidate for mayor who ‘likes’ racist tweets?
The woman charged with denying Sadiq Khan a third term stands accused of holding views wildly at odds with a diverse world city. She deserves to be suspended, says Tanya Gold
Does the name Susan Hall mean anything to you? It should. She is the Conservative candidate for London mayor – and a warning from history.
The mayoral elections are next May. The former leader of Harrow Council is polling rather well, the party line that Sadiq Khan is a two-term incumbent who wants to steal your car proving seemingly effective, especially in London’s outer boroughs. But I think that will ebb as more residents of the most diverse city on earth become aware of the views Hall apparently holds.
From what I can see, many awful themes meet in Hall: anti-intellectualism, anti-media, anti-liberal democracy. But the most important accusation levelled against her so far is that Hall is an anti-Muslim and anti-Black racist.
On Friday, the campaign group Hope Not Hate published a dossier detailing Hall’s alarming views that, to me, are not only insulting to the city she seeks to lead, but also raise questions about her suitability for high office. It should have been enough to see Hall suspended from her party. But the response has so far been muted.
Here are some highlights. Hall seemingly approved of a post on Twitter/X that said “It’s never too late to get London back!”, an old British National Party trope. I don’t think she meant medieval-style architecture.
She liked a post wishing that the late Enoch Powell could become prime minister; an endorsement for a racist ghost.
She replied to an Islamophobic post from Katie Hopkins – a woman whose views are too shocking even for gutter tabloids – calling Khan “our nipple-height mayor of Londonistan”, with the words: “Thank you, Katie!” Hall also liked a post that called Khan a “Labour traitor rat”.
A spokesperson for Hall’s campaign says this: "Susan engages with many people on Twitter without endorsing their views.” But this is the same Hall who has previously asked not to be confused with a BLM supporter – and has branded the Notting Hill Carnival “dangerous”, calling for it to be moved from its historic west London home. (That there was more violence at the Euro 2020 finals than the three-day street party appears to elude her, perhaps because those perpetrators were white.)
Last month, a group of London Labour MPs were so concerned by Hall’s outburst about the carnival that they wrote to the Conservative Party co-chairman, saying she “seems convinced of the innate criminality of Black people”.
If London voters aren’t troubled by Hall’s views – and I suspect they will be – there are indications that, to me, suggest that though she is standing for election, democracy itself isn’t close to her heart. As for tyrants of every age, it’s a gateway. She seems happy to undermine it.
Hall liked a social media post about electoral fraud that alleged Sadiq Khan is “begging for Londoners to do a Tower Hamlets postal vote for May next year (#fraud)”; and quote posted an article alleging a conspiracy to steal the 2020 presidential election from Donald Trump.
It’s easier, of course, to believe in the conspiracism that is the enemy of liberal democracy if the media is an agent of disinformation. Hall does believe this: she liked a post calling Matthew Thompson, then an LBC journalist, “a virus”; another noting Beth Rigby of Sky’s “sickly deep voice”; yet another calling Sam Coates of Sky “an ugly mouthed journalist” and member of the “#scummedia”. As a fellow member of #scummedia, I would like to say: I think you are projecting.
There are rumours that Jeremy Corbyn will run for mayor as an independent. I think they are just that: rumours. Were Corbyn to stand, I fear it’s possible he will siphon off enough votes from Khan to give Hall a real chance of victory – and even Corbyn isn’t self-destructive – or stupid – enough to deliver this woman to voters. Is he?
Susan Hall calls herself the woman that Sadiq Khan fears. But I believe she is a woman we should all fear. She seemingly promises a bonfire of everything that Londoners should cherish: intellectual rigour; fairness; hard work.
If the Conservative Party is not prepared to deal with her, the voters must.