Political

Siobhan Benita stands down as Lib Dem Mayor of London candidate

Tom Brake and Siobhan Benita pick up coffee lessons on the campaign trail - photo copyright John Russell johnrussell zenfolio com

With this May’s scheduled elections for the Mayor of London and London Assembly postponed to next May, there’s a huge knock-on for the candidates involved.

It’s therefore sad but understandable news that Siobhan Benita is standing down as the Lib Dem Mayor candidate:

After much consideration and with sadness, I am standing down as the Liberal Democrat Candidate for Mayor of London.

The demands of being a candidate are significant, particularly for an election of this scale, The nature of the role, which is unpaid, makes it very difficult to combine with other work. Sadly, at this stage, I’m simply not able to commit to another full year of campaigning.

It has been a privilege to campaign as the Lib Dem candidate for the past 18 months. First selected in November 2018, it has been a long journey through the European Election, General Election and London campaign up until it was postponed due to Coronavirus earlier this year.

I am immensely grateful to you and all the fabulous party members, volunteers and friends who supported my campaign and shared this experience with me. I will continue to campaign alongside you in the coming months.

London is the best city on Earth and that is because of the amazing people who live and work here. I have been both inspired and humbled by all the individuals and organisations I’ve had the pleasure to meet across the capital.

Londoners have enormous resilience, creativity and passion and I have every faith in their ability to overcome even the most challenging times that lie ahead.

I remain a committed Liberal Democrat campaigner and I wish the very best of luck to my successor. We successfully doubled our vote share in London during the General Election and, with so many committed and hardworking members, I know we can achieve a fantastic result in May 2021.

The party will be in touch soon about the process of selecting a new candidate. In the meantime, I look forward to campaigning with you in our hope for a better London very soon.

UPDATE: Review into lessons from Mayor of London candidate selection.

UPDATE 2: Luisa Porritt has been selected as the new Lib Dem candidate.

2 responses to “Siobhan Benita stands down as Lib Dem Mayor of London candidate”

  1. This is such a shock. Couldn’t the Party have offered a modicum of financial support (if that’s what it’s all about) before it came to this ? Losing such an excellent candidate is almost unbelievably sad.

    Maybe this is also an opportunity to negotiate with Rory Stewart – get him to join the Lib Dems and take Siobhan’s place ?

  2. Rory Stewart is a great character, but he is no Liberal Democrat. Siobhan has been an exemplary candidate, having influence far outside the capital too, but being a candidate is an enormous pressure, the money is only a part of it. I stood as Parliamentary candidate in unwinnable seats, but even so it took an emotional toll, not to be underestimated.. every candidate needs not just a trained agent but also a personal support person, especially if s/he is single..

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