Reform UK Chooses Laila Cunningham As Their Mayoral Candidate Against Sadiq Khan

It looks like Laila Cunningham has replaced Ant Middleton as Reform’s pick for London mayor, meaning Londoners will now have a choice between two Muslim candidates in the 2028 ballot. Nigel Farage playing 4D chess, or what?

Cunningham, a Westminster City councillor and former prosecutor, will challenge Sadiq Khan, who already triggered millions around the country (and world, no doubt) when he indicated his intention to seek a fourth term as mayor.

Cunningham, 48, a Muslim mum-of-7 with Egyptian heritage, defected from the Conservative Party to Reform UK in June 2025 (a Reform politician who was a Tory last year?! Surely not!).

Nigel Farage described her as a “vigilante mum” due to her past efforts to personally track down criminals who targeted her children.

Sure enough, her core campaign pledges focus on law and order and transport:

• “All-out War on Crime”: Vowed to be a “new sheriff in town,” prioritising the tackling of knife crime, robberies, and “grooming gangs”.
• Police Reform: Called for the resignation of Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, citing failures in investigating child sex abuse cases.
• Scrapping ULEZ: Pledged to immediately abolish the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) to end the “war on motorists”.
• Automating the Tube: Proposed automating London Underground trains to prevent disruption from frequent union strikes.

Well, those all sound pretty good to me. Of course, it’s one thing promising to clean up the streets and the transport system and quite another actually doing it.

It will be interesting to see how this news is received by Reform voters, in any case. All the racist voters complaining about Khan will now have to back a Muslim replacement who has 7 children.

Meanwhile, Nigel Farage gets to combat allegations of racism by showing off that he appointed a Muslim woman as his mayoral candidate for London.

Of course, a lot can happen between now and 2028. Reform might even replace Laila with Derek Chisora. Not as crazy as it sounds.