Sadiq Khan is set to describe his mayoral rival Susan Hall as “most divisive candidate the Tories have ever put up in London” in a dramatic escalation of the battle for City Hall.
Mr Khan is expected to use a speech to Labour’s London conference on Saturday to launch the personal attack on Ms Hall, who is seeking to pull off what would be a shock victory on May 2.
The nature of the attack comes as something of a surprise a week after Mr Khan found himself subjected to death threats after MP Lee Anderson, who has since lost the Tory whip, claimed he had “given our capital city away” to Islamist “mates”.
Ms Hall had described the attack on Mr Khan as “shameful” and said she wholly condemned the “monstrous abuse” he faced as one of the country’s most prominent Muslim politicians.
On Friday she declined to respond to Mr Khan’s comments, which were shared with the Standard in advance by the Labour party.
It is understood that Ms Hall, who has faced criticism for “liking” inflammatory tweets in 2019 and 2020 that referred to “Londonistan” and Enoch Powell, wants to focus her campaign on policies and not personal attacks.
A poll for the Evening Standard this week predicted Mr Khan was on course for an historic third term, with a 25-point lead over Ms Hall.
But he is expected to tell Labour members on Saturday: "I’m under no illusion that this will be the toughest contest of my political life.”
This is partly because of a change in the voting system to first-past-the-post, plus the need for voters to show ID at polling stations.
“With no second preferences, the choice is between me and the most divisive candidate the Tories have ever put up in London,” Mr Khan will say.
Mr Khan’s decision to brand Ms Hall the “most divisive” of his rivals may surprise many who witnessed the attacks made on him by Zac Goldsmith’s campaign in 2016, and Mr Khan’s dislike of Shaun Bailey, the Tory candidate in 2021.
On Thursday night, at a People’s Question Time event that had to be held online due to concerns for the mayor’s personal safety, Mr Khan was criticised by the Tory chairman of the London Assembly for “failures in accountability and openness”.
Andrew Boff said the mayor should look Londoners “in the eye” when governing on their behalf, and said he was demonstrating an “evasiveness” by not holding the session in person.
Mr Khan used his opening remarks to stress the importance of “unity” over “division”. He questioned why senior Conservatives had not used the word "Islamophobic" when describing comments made about him by Mr Anderson.
