I want to be London's first black mayor, says Tottenham MP David Lammy

 
Rt Hon David Lammy MP, Alasdair Smith (short sleeve shirt), Christine Blower (glasses) NUT, and Fiona Miller addressed a meeting of 600 concerned parents, friends and supporters of Downshill School in Tottenham which is facing privatisation. The meeting was chaired by Clive Boutle. PICTURE BY: NIGEL HOWARD Email: nigelhowardmedia@gmail.com
Anna Dubuis11 November 2013
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Campaigning MP David Lammy today revealed his ambition to become London’s first black mayor, pledging to end the capital’s “tale of two cities”.

The Labour representative for Tottenham - who chaired Ken Livingstone’s 2012 election campaign - has given the clearest indication yet of his intention to stand in 2016.

He said: “I am thinking seriously about putting my hat into the ring to be Labour candidate for mayor in 2016.

“London is a great city but while its economy works for some Londoners, it doesn’t work for all of them. It is a tale of two cities, and I see that all the time in my own constituency. Ending that divison is what animates me,” he told The Observer.

Lammy is in New York where he hopes to meet the team of the new Democratic mayor Bill de Blasio, whose own “two cities” rhetoric ended the three-term reign of billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg.

Ed Miliband has suggested the Labour candidate will be chosen following the 2015 general election.

Rather than confining the selection process to local London Labour parties and members of affiliated trade unions, he is opening it up to all Londoners of voting age.

Other Labour names eyeing up the top spot at City Hall include former Olympics minister Dame Tessa Jowell, former transport secretary Lord Adonis and Diane Abbott MP - who Lammy nominated to take over as party leader following the departure of Gordon Brown in 2010.

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