Rory Stewart quits - the contest for City Hall 'suddenly got boring'
The contest for City Hall suddenly got boring. Few seasoned observers reckoned Rory Stewart had much chance of deposing Sadiq Khan as London mayor.
But at least he was worth a flutter in a one horse race. And if he could make it through to round two, who knows how many second preference votes he might pick up?
Now the wild card candidate has withdrawn, citing the problems of organising an independent campaign in a prolonged contest.
The sixth London mayoral election was due to take place tomorrow but was postponed for a year because of coronavirus.
The most recent opinion poll gave Labour mayor Khan a commanding lead of 49% - within a whisker of making it through in round one.
The Conservative candidate, London Assembly member Shaun Bailey trailed behind in a poor second place with just 24%.
The survey by Queen Mary University had Stewart on 13%, putting him in third place ahead of the Green and Liberal Democrat candidates.
Stewart's decision to quit has robbed a seemingly predictable election of its only maverick.
Unless, unless....
I have heard more than a few London Tories wonder out loud whether Stewart might be persuaded/allowed to step into the breach if Bailey for some reason decided to throw in the towel!