Rory Stewart has announced on Friday morning that he is to quit the Tories and stand down as MP at the next general election.
He has further announced that he is to stand as an independent candidate to become the next mayor of London.
I am running as an Independent candidate for Mayor of London, and here’s why.
Please join me in my campaign: https://t.co/8y3xWpl9hY#Rory4London pic.twitter.com/jnaNy8IF0s
— Rory Stewart (@RoryStewartUK) October 4, 2019
In a video Stewart said, “It is a city not just with so much potential but, of course, a city that is now in real danger.”
“Danger from Brexit, from technological change but I think, above all, from what’s happened in British politics, to the kind of extremism that is taking over our country.
“The reason that I’m going to be running in May to be Mayor of London is that I believe that the way to fight back is through this great city, through the traditions of compromise, the energy and diversity of this city and to make it a better place,” he added.
“To make sure that the very air we breathe is clean, that we feel safe in our houses, that we have the right kind of houses, that we challenge division.
“I’m leaving that gothic shouting chamber of Westminster, I’m getting away from a politics which makes me sometimes feel like Trump has never left London.
“I want to walk through every borough of this great city to get back to us on the ground, making change local and showing that the way we do it is not through division but through love.
“Love not as a lazy compromise but as something painful, something difficult, something risky about changing the world together.”
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