Susan Hall has been selected as the Conservative candidate for London mayor.
She will face the current mayor, Sadiq Khan, when the next election is held in May 2024.
Ms Hall, who has served on the London Assembly since 2017, won the race with 57% of the vote, compared with 43% for her opponent, Mozammel Hossain.
In a statement, Ms Hall said it was a “huge honour to be the Conservative candidate for Mayor of London”.
“I am so grateful to everyone for their support,” she said.
“I would also like to pay tribute to Moz for his positive and hard fought campaign. Over the coming months, I will work tirelessly to defeat Sadiq Khan and offer Londoners the change we need.”
Ms Hall announced she was is running for London mayor on a platform of safety and “fears”, and claimed she was “the candidate Sadiq Khan fears the most”.
Tackling crime, the housing crisis and ULEZ were all high on Ms Hall’s list of priorities. She also pledged to “hunt down and lock up” muggers and burglars by creating a special team within the Metropolitan Police.
The Tory contest was a two-horse race between Ms Hall and Mr Hossain after the third candidate, Daniel Korski, quit the race last month after a TV producer accused him of groping her a decade ago – an allegation he strenuously denies.
At the time, Ms Hall said Mr Korski “fought a hard campaign with lots of fresh ideas” but that the allegations against him were “serious and it is right that they are investigated in the proper way”.
A spokesperson for London Labour described Ms Hall as a “hard-right politician who couldn’t be more out of touch with our city and its values”.
“She’s an outspoken supporter of Trump, Boris Johnson and a hard Brexit. She cheered Liz Truss’s mini-budget, which sent mortgages and rents soaring. She doesn’t stand up for women. And she hates London’s diversity.
“Londoners deserve better than a candidate who represents the worst of the Tory failure and incompetence over the last 13 years.
“The London election next year will be a two-horse race and the choice is clear – a Labour Mayor with a positive vision who will continue to build a fairer, greener and safer London for everyone, or the extreme Tory candidate, who stands for cuts to London’s public services, inequality and division. The Tories have failed the country. They can’t be trusted to run London.”
