Liberal Democrats reveal Rob Blackie as candidate to take on Sadiq Khan for London mayor

A prominent campaigner against Russian propaganda was on Friday selected as the Liberal Democrats’ London mayoral candidate.

Rob Blackie said he will put plans to cut the capital’s crime rate at the heart of his battle against Labour’s Sadiq Khan.

The Met must improve conviction rates for rape and serious sexual offences instead of focusing resources on “trivial crimes” such as possession of cannabis or laughing gas, he said.

“Sadiq Khan has failed to tackle rape and other serious crimes over the last seven years and Labour are committed to the worst possible priorities for the police - arresting people for laughing gas rather than spending time on serious crimes,” he said.

“The Conservatives are discredited nationally by their cost of living failures and in London they’ve all but given up.

“For far too long people in London have been let down by Labour and the Conservative plan for London shows that they are not serious about tackling our city’s problems.”

Mr Blackie, from Brixton, spearheaded the award-winning Breaking Putin’s Censorship campaign, which uses digital advertising to get independent news about the war in Ukraine to people in Russia.

A life-long Lib Dem, he served as Charles Kennedy’s Director of Research during the Iraq War and has since been a London Assembly candidate at each election since 2012.

He beat Chris French, a former Met special constable, in a vote with London Lib Dem members to be revealed as the party’s candidate at an event at the Tate on Friday morning.

The party had initially planned to unveil its selection in September, but brought the contest’s conclusion forward for an extra month of campaigning before the election in May next year.

In the last three mayoral elections, the party has come fourth - behind Labour, the Conservatives and the Green Party - and failed to gain more than five per cent of the vote, losing the £10,000 deposit required to run.

The Conservatives earlier selected Susan Hall as their candidate to take on Mr Khan.

Liberal Democrats London Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon, said: “Sadiq Khan has taken his eye off the ball when it comes to keeping Londoners safe. The Met Police is in special measures and in London last year there were over 37,000 burglaries reported and yet for one in three, the police didn't even bother to turn up to investigate.

“The Conservatives have given up on London and are out of touch with a liberal London.

“Rob and the Liberal Democrats will offer the progressive alternative to Labour’s shortcomings whether that is on crime, the environment or London’s economy.”