Wes Streeting ‘put me in danger’ with tweet, says Susan Hall
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Susan Hall has said Wes Streeting of Labour “put me in danger” by claiming that a victory for Ms Hall in the London mayoral election would be a “win for racists, white supremacists and Islamophobes”.
The Conservative candidate for City Hall, who was beaten by Sadiq Khan, said that the “despicable” comment by the shadow home secretary had led to her feeling unsafe on public transport and that he owed her an apology.
In her first interview since the election, Ms Hall revealed that on the eve of the vote count she believed she might have ousted Mr Khan.
She defended her campaign, saying it had “bucked the trend” of low Tory support in the capital, and warned that Labour was using London as a “testing ground” for anti-car measures which she claimed Sir Keir Starmer would roll out nationally.
The day before polls opened, Mr Streeting sparked controversy by posting on X, formerly Twitter: “A win for Susan Hall and the Conservatives is a win for racists, white supremacists and Islamophobes the world over.”
Despite receiving widespread criticism, he later doubled down on the comment.
In her first response to the shadow health secretary, Ms Hall told The Telegraph: “If you can’t win people over by your achievements in eight years, if you can’t point to all your successes, if you have to resort to personal abuse – which is what I put up with all the way through the campaign – then that says a lot more about you than it does me.”
But she said the tweet had also put her at risk: “In some ways that puts me in danger because some people – well, a lot of people – believe what people like Wes Streeting put out, and it is wrong.
“You think ‘how low can you get’, but it plays into the agenda of the Left, because they’ll get other people to completely attempt to ruin your reputation, because it’s a way of them fighting. But that’s not good for democracy.”
Asked whether she wanted an apology from Mr Streeting, she said: “I think that would be the very least… he put it out clearly to try and frighten people into: ‘You don’t want this sort of person running your city.’ I couldn’t be less of that sort of person… it’s well below the belt and despicable to be honest.
“Wes Streeting shocked me to the core. Because it was a lie… he should be ashamed of himself.”
Pointing out that the tweet had been viewed 6.1 million times, she added: “There could be some people that would think: ‘Right, I’ll do something.’ I’m on the Underground on my own all the time. I’m pretty robust, but I don’t feel particularly safe now.”
Mr Khan won the election with 1,088,225 votes (43.8 per cent) to Ms Hall’s 812,397 (32.7 per cent).
The night before the count, rumours swirled on social media that Mr Khan’s margin of victory would be far narrower, or that Ms Hall might even triumph.
Ms Hall said that she had stayed “grounded” amid the fevered speculation, but thought there was a chance she might have won “because of the strength of feeling” she had experienced while canvassing. She said no one from her team had been involved in briefing about the result.
Following the loss, some Tories criticised Conservative Campaign Headquarters’ management of the mayoral challenge. Paul Scully, who had unsuccessfully sought the Tory nomination, said there had been a “selection failure” and that Ms Hall’s campaign was too negative.
Responding, Ms Hall said: “With Paul Scully, there’s no other way of putting it – it’s sour grapes, and it’s such a shame.
“If you don’t get selected, maybe ask yourself why, as opposed to hitting out to the person that did get selected.”
She “strongly” disputed that her campaign had been negative, arguing that she had outperformed the Tories’ Westminster polling in London. “If you look at the figures, I think the Conservatives are polling about 18 per cent, and I managed to bring it in at 32.7 per cent… we did buck the trend.”
Asked whether she had received enough support from Tory high command, Ms Hall said “I won’t complain about CCHQ”, although she revealed that she had only been assigned one dedicated staffer, who was part-time until the final three weeks of the race.
She also gave her backing to Rishi Sunak, saying she was a “loyal Tory” and that he was the right man to lead the party into the general election. “We’ve got to stop looking inwards as a party and start looking and listening to not just what London wants, but what the country wants.”
Ms Hall admitted there was “no love lost” between herself and Mr Khan, who had initially left her hanging when she extended her hand after the result was declared. “He didn’t look at me when he shook my hand,” she said. Having been re-elected to the London Assembly, she vowed to “continue to hold him to account”.
She said she feared Labour was using London as a “testing ground for the rest of the country” with policies such as the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez).
“Keir Starmer will be looking at that and thinking that could be an area he can get all his money from, because some of his manifesto pledges are going to be so expensive,” she said.
“These things are going to be brought in everywhere else under the tag of progressive politics – progressive politics of people that have got the money to tell people that haven’t got the money what they should be doing.”
She urged Mr Khan to get a grip on the anti-Semitism being displayed at pro-Palestine marches, saying she was concerned by a growing sectarianism in British politics. “It worries me that things abroad are enacted on our streets,” she said.
Asked what advice she would give her party ahead of the election, she urged the Conservatives to focus on “core Tory values” such as law and order.
