Rachel Blake

A FORMER Conservative councillor for the West End and government minister is backing Labour’s candidate for Cities of London and Westminster.

Nick Boles, a Tory MP for nine years who quit over Brexit, endorsed Rachel Blake in a promotional film shot in Soho Square on Wednesday.

The former West End ward councillor said: “I was a Conservative for 25 years. But I am now in absolutely no doubt that what Britain needs is a Labour government. And what Westminster needs is a Labour MP. Specifically Rachel Blake.

“In recent years, the Conservatives have done more harm than good. What we need in the country is simply, change.

“Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves will bring people together…

“Maybe you voted Conservative in the last few elections, maybe you will agree with me that what we need is Rachel Blake.”

Tim Barnes

Ms Blake, a senior councillor in Tower Hamlets, is hoping to become the first Labour candidate to win the Cities of London and Westminster constituency in its history.

This week betting companies listed odds for the general election, placing Ms Blake as a heavy favourite, at 1/4, with the Conservatives’ Tim Barnes at 3/1.

Nickie Aiken became the first woman to represent it when she was elected for the Conservatives in the Boris Johnson landslide of 2019.

In her final speech, last week, Ms Aiken said that she was proud to have completed her “life’s work” in securing legislation licensing pedicabs.

She said she had been determined to show her daughter “that women can achieve in public life”.

Ms Aiken is moving to the UAE with her husband, PR guru Alex Aiken.

The Conservative candidate Mr Barnes told the Extra: “I am the only one who lives here. I work in the constituency.

“That is not a throwaway line. I know and feel what it’s like to worry about pedicabs and e-bikes, to know which shops are closing down, about late licensing or the 24-hour economy.

“Those are the things that make you connect with people and explain.”

The Liberal Democrats’ candidate is Edward Lucas.