James Ford and Alex Challoner: London Conservatives need our own think tank
Transparency shouldn't be controversial.
Alex Challoner is a former prospective London mayoral candidate and the current Director of London Vision Network. James Ford was an adviser on transport and technology policy to former Mayor of London Boris Johnson and is now a columnist for City AM.
Any regular reader of Conservative Home that has read the past contributions of this article’s authors (in these august pages and elsewhere) will be well aware that we are restless, relentless advocates for change in London. We have long urged the party to take London more seriously as a political battleground and proposed urgent reforms needed to make the Conservative Party in London more professional, more credible, and generally more electorally competitive.
These proposed reforms have included the more timely selection of a mayoral candidate, that the party leadership and organisation needs to see the importance of the capital to the party’s national recovery, that party structures in the capital are ripe for an overhaul, and of the need to attract heavyweight political contenders as potential candidates. Given that London’s political landscape is becoming ever more crowded and unpredictable, that it is becoming increasingly obvious that the serving Mayor has overstayed his welcome, and that the Starmer Government seems to have it in for London, our clarion calls for change are only going to become more frequent – and more urgent – in 2026. To that end, our latest call to action is that London needs its own dedicated Conservative think tank.
This article does not intend to cast any shade on the sterling work that the brilliant minds of Tufton Street and elsewhere already do. Policy Exchange’s recent work revealing the harrowing true extent of knife crime in the capital, for example, proves that the existing Conservative-inclined think tanks can and do make an effective impact upon the capital’s policy discourse. But, with the process of developing policies for the next general election manifesto already underway in earnest, it is clear that their considerable intellectual firepower is likely to be directed to finding national solutions to UK-wide problems. It is important that crafting a compelling policy offer for London does not fall through the cracks or become a mere afterthought. A think tank dedicated to identifying market-orientated, centre-right solutions to the capital’s myriad policy challenges and complex issues is not just urgently needed but, arguably, long overdue.
Without a commitment to producing robust, well-researched policies that capture Londoners’ imaginations there is arguably little point in fielding a strong mayoral candidate or improving the effectiveness of the party’s campaigning. London has seemingly been engulfed by a rising tide of failure and declinism under Sadiq …
Transparency shouldn't be controversial.
Alex Challoner is a former prospective London mayoral candidate and the current Director of London Vision Network. James Ford was an adviser on transport and technology policy to former Mayor of London Boris Johnson and is now a columnist for City AM.
Any regular reader of Conservative Home that has read the past contributions of this article’s authors (in these august pages and elsewhere) will be well aware that we are restless, relentless advocates for change in London. We have long urged the party to take London more seriously as a political battleground and proposed urgent reforms needed to make the Conservative Party in London more professional, more credible, and generally more electorally competitive.
These proposed reforms have included the more timely selection of a mayoral candidate, that the party leadership and organisation needs to see the importance of the capital to the party’s national recovery, that party structures in the capital are ripe for an overhaul, and of the need to attract heavyweight political contenders as potential candidates. Given that London’s political landscape is becoming ever more crowded and unpredictable, that it is becoming increasingly obvious that the serving Mayor has overstayed his welcome, and that the Starmer Government seems to have it in for London, our clarion calls for change are only going to become more frequent – and more urgent – in 2026. To that end, our latest call to action is that London needs its own dedicated Conservative think tank.
This article does not intend to cast any shade on the sterling work that the brilliant minds of Tufton Street and elsewhere already do. Policy Exchange’s recent work revealing the harrowing true extent of knife crime in the capital, for example, proves that the existing Conservative-inclined think tanks can and do make an effective impact upon the capital’s policy discourse. But, with the process of developing policies for the next general election manifesto already underway in earnest, it is clear that their considerable intellectual firepower is likely to be directed to finding national solutions to UK-wide problems. It is important that crafting a compelling policy offer for London does not fall through the cracks or become a mere afterthought. A think tank dedicated to identifying market-orientated, centre-right solutions to the capital’s myriad policy challenges and complex issues is not just urgently needed but, arguably, long overdue.
Without a commitment to producing robust, well-researched policies that capture Londoners’ imaginations there is arguably little point in fielding a strong mayoral candidate or improving the effectiveness of the party’s campaigning. London has seemingly been engulfed by a rising tide of failure and declinism under Sadiq …
James Ford and Alex Challoner: London Conservatives need our own think tank
Transparency shouldn't be controversial.
Alex Challoner is a former prospective London mayoral candidate and the current Director of London Vision Network. James Ford was an adviser on transport and technology policy to former Mayor of London Boris Johnson and is now a columnist for City AM.
Any regular reader of Conservative Home that has read the past contributions of this article’s authors (in these august pages and elsewhere) will be well aware that we are restless, relentless advocates for change in London. We have long urged the party to take London more seriously as a political battleground and proposed urgent reforms needed to make the Conservative Party in London more professional, more credible, and generally more electorally competitive.
These proposed reforms have included the more timely selection of a mayoral candidate, that the party leadership and organisation needs to see the importance of the capital to the party’s national recovery, that party structures in the capital are ripe for an overhaul, and of the need to attract heavyweight political contenders as potential candidates. Given that London’s political landscape is becoming ever more crowded and unpredictable, that it is becoming increasingly obvious that the serving Mayor has overstayed his welcome, and that the Starmer Government seems to have it in for London, our clarion calls for change are only going to become more frequent – and more urgent – in 2026. To that end, our latest call to action is that London needs its own dedicated Conservative think tank.
This article does not intend to cast any shade on the sterling work that the brilliant minds of Tufton Street and elsewhere already do. Policy Exchange’s recent work revealing the harrowing true extent of knife crime in the capital, for example, proves that the existing Conservative-inclined think tanks can and do make an effective impact upon the capital’s policy discourse. But, with the process of developing policies for the next general election manifesto already underway in earnest, it is clear that their considerable intellectual firepower is likely to be directed to finding national solutions to UK-wide problems. It is important that crafting a compelling policy offer for London does not fall through the cracks or become a mere afterthought. A think tank dedicated to identifying market-orientated, centre-right solutions to the capital’s myriad policy challenges and complex issues is not just urgently needed but, arguably, long overdue.
Without a commitment to producing robust, well-researched policies that capture Londoners’ imaginations there is arguably little point in fielding a strong mayoral candidate or improving the effectiveness of the party’s campaigning. London has seemingly been engulfed by a rising tide of failure and declinism under Sadiq …
0 Comments
0 Shares
138 Views
0 Reviews
