Senior Conservative, Syed Kamall announces candidacy at the Regenerate Project

Senior Conservative, Syed Kamall, MEP for London, has officially launched his bid to become the next Mayor of London at the Roehampton estate in South West London.

The MEP choose the Regenerate Project this morning to be the venue for the launch because it summed up so much of Mr Kamall`s philosophy for his bid.

In his speech he said: "This is a truly inspirational project and for me represents in real life what my friends teasingly call 'Kamall Conservatism.'.

Mr Kamall, said it was his parents who instilled so many of the values he holds dear today:
"My father came to London in the 1950s to work on the railways and then drove a bus. My parents faced many challenges, and yes discrimination was one of them. Of course it was. Life wasn’t easy, but they told me that there was no limit to what you could achieve if you worked hard and believed in yourself. They shaped my views and indeed my career to date."

He grew up in Edmonton and now lives with his wife and family near Kingston Upon Thames. He currently represents the whole of London as an MEP for London at the European Parliament but says that while he spends a few days every week in Brussels, most of the time he is here in our city, helping projects.

Addressing the question of where his top priorities would be, he said, "During my campaign I will talk about a number of issues – jobs for Londoners, homes for Londoners, transport for Londoners, security for Londoners, air quality for Londoners and services for Londoners."

He summed up his speech by saying, "(I want to) .... fight the corner of hard working Londoners. I want to be a voice for the hard working commuter and the person who drives them there, whose alarm goes off at 5:30 for their daily journey and gets back to their family late in the evening, maybe after their children are in bed. I want to champion the thousands of incredible entrepreneurs that are the lifeblood of this city. I want to fight the corner of the people who work for a bank but don’t walk away with a massive bankers bonus, just working diligently in back offices and middle management to keep the whole operation running. But crucially, I want to be a strong advocate for those who’ve got nothing and to tell them that they can reach the top."

Since the news emerged on Friday morning, Mr Kamall says he has been inundated with messages of support from across London and says he hopes now to represent their needs at City Hall.

June 25, 2015