Laila Cunningham has placed a crackdown on crime at the centre of her campaign to become Reform UK's inaugural Mayor of London, drawing on her dramatic personal and professional experience with law and order.
From 'Vigilante Mum' to Political Hopeful
The 48-year-old former Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) prosecutor was once dubbed a 'vigilante mum' after she personally tracked down and chased balaclava-clad muggers who had targeted some of her seven children. She claims police failed to help her at the time.
"I protected my family when the state couldn't," Ms Cunningham said, recalling the incident. "The press called me vigilante mum, but I should never have been put in that position." She described following gangs and taking photographs of their distinct shoes to identify them.
An Unconventional Candidate for Farage's Party
In several ways, Ms Cunningham is an atypical figure for Nigel Farage's right-wing party. She is a practising Muslim, born in West London to parents who fled Nasser's Egypt in the 1960s. Until mid-2023, she was a Conservative Party member, having won a council seat for Westminster City Council's Lancaster Gate ward in 2022.
She was due to be the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Rotherham at the 2024 general election before withdrawing. Subsequently, she crossed the political aisle to join a group of female politicians tough on law and order, known informally as 'Farage's Filies'.
Mr Farage is now pinning his party's hopes on the councillor breaking Labour's 12-year grip on City Hall in the 2028 election, whether against Sadiq Khan or another Labour candidate.
A Clash with the CPS and a Pledge for London
Ms Cunningham left her CPS role in June last year after making a series of politically charged comments to The Standard newspaper, announcing her move to Reform UK. The CPS stated she offered her resignation, which was accepted, after being told she may have breached the Civil Service code of conduct which limits political activity for prosecutors.
In that interview, she accused both main parties of failing on crime, criticised net zero policies, and claimed political leaders had left Londoners "angry and frustrated." She has now returned to these themes, attacking Mayor Sadiq Khan's record since 2016.
Pledging more policing and access to officers, she said: "It's a dereliction of duty that there's not more policing, more access to police, and that's what I want to see change." She nostalgically referenced the "glory days" of her 1980s childhood in London, when she felt safe walking the streets and knew her local police officer and teacher, who could afford to live nearby.
Ms Cunningham aims to channel her personal frustration with violent crime into a successful political journey, positioning herself as a law-and-order alternative for the capital.
