We need to talk about Shaun Bailey and, at this point, ask if the Conservatives actually want to win the London election

Shaun Bailey’s chaotic and offensive campaign for London mayor took another grim turn last week 

Sadiq Khan will be defending his seat this year against the likes of Conservative candidate Shaun Bailey, Lib Dem Luisa Porritt, and UKIP's Peter Gammons (yes, that's actually his name).

While Khan is enjoying a steady 50 per cent vote share in polls, attention turns once again to Shaun Bailey's latest misstep, which many are watching with disgust.

In the wake of tragic news about the disappearance of 33 year-old Sarah Everard, politicians from across the political spectrum took to social media to express their concerns, pay their respects, and express solidarity with women affected by the story (presumably because they themselves were distressed by events and, as politicians, they want to be liked by the public).

And then came Shaun Bailey's tweet.

In it, he claims that as mayor he will "ensure that we are working to deliver for the safety of women and girls in London".  

As a father and husband it breaks me to think that my wife and daughter have to live in fear in their own city.

It doesn’t have to be this way. As Mayor, I‘ll ensure that we are working to deliver for the safety of women and girls in London.https://t.co/aVf2Clabt1 — Shaun Bailey (@ShaunBaileyUK) March 10, 2021

Bailey saw the tragic story of Sarah Everard as an opportunity to capitalise for his mayoral election campaign. And let's not even bother with the "as a father and husband" line, as if familial relations with women are the only route to sympathy for their experiences of sexism.

His tweet drew outrage, Lib Dem Porritt described it as “utterly grotesque.”

Despite that, it hasn't hindered Conservative MPs wading into the midst to defend Bailey. Minister for London, Conservative Paul Scully, said "Aside from the fact that he has this slightly Victorian view that women can only really be seen in terms of their relationship to a man, why do you think and when do you think it is suitable to use the disappearance of a woman as political capital?"

And this is just another incident in Bailey's bizarre election campaign.

Last month, he said that if Universal Basic Income were introduced, people would use it to "buy lots of drugs." He also said last month that he would scrap Sadiq Khan's diversity commission from "day one." In January, Bailey claimed that homeless people could save £5,000 for a deposit on a home. Last year, he argued for greater stop and search powers for the police, despite the fact that Black people are disproportionately and unfairly targeted by the Met police in London - something which he continues to advocate for. And his broader political track record is abysmal. In 2005, Bailey said without rules working class people may turn to crime. In 2008, he wrote about the "browning of England" in a race relations report - and in the same year, he claimed single mothers get pregnant because "they know that if they do, they will get a flat", and added at a later date that "it's a cottage industry where I come from."

In 2010, he suggested that pregnant teenage girls were pushing other people off the housing ladder. 

Then, of course, is the downright cringeworthy - such as his parody of the Great British Bake Off, in which he attempted to chastise Sadiq Khan (viewer discretion advised, the second hand embarrassment is painful).  

There’s only one bake-off tonight. ⁰⁰So take a look at the #GreatLondonBakeOff now — with special guests @SadiqKhan and @EstherMcVey1.

You don’t want to miss this showstopper. #GBBO pic.twitter.com/Q00aW8HiPb — Shaun Bailey (@ShaunBaileyUK) October 20, 2020

And lest we forget, the Cilit Bang inspired campaign graphics that Bailey has plastered across his Twitter profile. Or his recent doorstep campaigning in Watford, an area which cannot vote in the London mayoral elections. It gets to a point where you have to ask: what on earth is Bailey doing? Are Bailey's campaign team intentionally sabotaging him? Or is the man truly this politically tone-deaf? I'm half-inclined to think Bailey is a trojan horse, part of an elaborate Downing Street ploy to bolster Sadiq Khan's majority and fan the flames of the us vs liberal London culture war. Either way, there are still months to go until the election, so we can be quite sure this won't be the last of Bailey's disrespectful, bizarre, and ignorant missteps.