London Lib Dems kick off candidate selection for Mayor and Assembly elections

Applications have just opened to be a Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of London or the London Assembly in next May’s elections. The deadline is 22 June.

Details are available on the Liberal Democrat members’ website (party members need to login first to access this page).

It’s looking like the frontrunner by some distance on the Mayor contest is existing Lib Dem GLA member Caroline Pidgeon who hasn’t been tempted by the post in the past but this time is likely to see it as the best way of ensuring the Mayor campaign (which the Lib Dems won’t win) is geared towards maximising the number of Assembly members the Liberal Democrats get.

That’s often been the theory in the past, with then the pressures of events undermining the theory long before polling day. Having a Mayor candidate who is also a London Assembly member would be a wise move to break that pattern.