Margaret Hodge: "London needs a Black mayor"

The well-respected Labour MP and, until yesterday, would-be London Mayoral candidate Margaret Hodge has bowed out of the race stating that the capital city would benefit from a ‘non-white mayor’.

Being a Labour Party MP and Chair of the powerful Business Select Committee, Hodge sees that a number of BME candidates have real potential to transform London, including David Lammy and Sadiq Khan.  She also pays tribute to what she describes as the ‘feisty' Diane Abbott.  The Conservatives are known to be seriously considering the very able London-born Shaun Bailey for their candidate to replace Boris Johnson.

Hodge’s announcement, more than a year before the Mayoral race is crucial. The MP is passionate about London, its standing as a global metropolis, and how diversity should be writ large at the highest levels of business and governance.

Last year Margaret Hodge and I spoke at length in Berlin during breaks at an Anglo-German conference on immigration.  Hodge whose Jewish family fled Nazis Germany in the 1930’s spoke with heartfelt passion about multicultural cities in which all communities can flourish.  As we walked around this history filled city she told me, she’d " ike to be Mayor for London, but would only run if she could have a dynamic BME Deputy Mayor."  I informed her that whilst I admired her vision, I thought it an opportune time for London to have a talented BME Mayor.  Hodge now agrees.

Of course, competence, dynamism, and a big personality has to be writ large for any candidate Black or white, male or female, but selecting a BME Mayor would send a global message that London and the UK is one of the most progressive, cultural, and energised places in the world.  The symbolism of a BME Mayor would be that: whoever you are, this is a place where you can succeed, where you can reach the highest office, in business and in politics.

I know Margaret Hodge MP will remain one of our best advocates for this city, fighting against bigotry as she did when she fought off the BNP in Barking and Dagenham.  I also hope she’ll get behind one of the many BME Mayoral candidates and ensure their success.

Simon Woolley