Former England international Sol Campbell has officially joined the race to be the next Mayor of London.
After months of speculation, the ex-Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal centre back confirmed he will fight to be a candidate for the Conservative party when the race to replace Boris Johnson begins next year.
Campbell joined the Conservative Party last year and was a vocal supporter in the run-up to this year's general election. He was even in the running to stand as a Tory candidate in a safe Tory constituency.
Campbell has announced he'll appear at a hustings with the rest of Tory mayoral hopefuls on July 4th:
"I’m going in with my eyes wide open. I know I’m not going to be a frontrunner.
But I look at people who have been in politics for five, 10, 15 years, and muck up, you see them muck up and think, ‘you guys are supposed to be pro!’...people that have gone to Oxbridge, had thousands spent on their education, and I mean they are royally mucking up.
I bring something new to the table. This is a whole new road for me, something I can get my teeth into but I just felt it was something I had to do."
He'll struggle for votes in Tottenham.
When asked whether his controversial transfer from Spurs to Arsenal in 2001 would split his vote in North London, Campbell replied:
"If we keep thinking about football, we’re not going to do anything. We are dealing with people’s lives here. I want to change London for everybody.”
[via The Guardian]
