The man who was Susan Hall’s deputy during her time as leader of Harrow Council is openly supporting the Conservative mayoral candidate’s Labour rival Sadiq Khan.
Barry Macleod-Cullinane, whose twelve years as a Tory Harrow councillor included nine months as Hall’s deputy when she led the borough between and September 2013 and May 2014, appeared at a campaign rally with Khan in Rayner’s Lane in Harrow on Sunday.
He posed for photographs (above) with Khan and Krupesh Hirani, Labour’s London Assembly member for Brent & Harrow, who is defending the seat for his party, and went on what is understood to have been his first canvassing session for Labour.
Macleod-Cullinane’s backing for Khan and Hirani follows his call two years ago for Londoners to vote Labour at the 2022 borough elections, saying at the time that the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson, was “destroying” the Conservative Party.
In an open letter he said could not “stand by and watch” as Johnson, by then embroiled in the “partygate” scandal, damaged “the Conservative Party that I’ve supported all my life”.
The former councillor was political adviser to the Harrow Tory group from 2000 until 2003 and went on to do the equivalent job for Conservative borough leaders at the cross-party London Councils body until 2014. He was deputy leader of the Harrow Tory group from 2010 until 2018.
Hall remained a firm supporter of Johnson throughout partygate and featured a photograph of her with him on her X/Twitter profile until she decided to seek to become the Tories’ mayoral candidate.
With just over two weeks of campaigning left until in-person voting on 2 May, Khan has been enjoying commanding leads over Hall in opinion polls but insists he is in a close “two-horse race” with her as he seeks a historic third term at City Hall.
Support OnLondon.co.uk and its writers for just £5 a month or £50 a year and get things for your money too. Details HERE. Threads: DaveHillOnLondon. X/Twitter: On London and Dave Hill.