LONDON - Former England footballer Sol Campbell wants to be Boris Johnson's successor as Mayor of London and has launched a bid for selection as the Conservative candidate in next year's vote, reports said on Monday.
Sol Campbell wants to be Boris Johnson's successor as Conservative Mayor of London
"I'm in it to win it," the former Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur defender told The Sun newspaper as he confirmed he will attend a question and answer debate on July 4 with other contenders for the Conservative nomination.
London-born Campbell, 40, said: "I know I'm not going to be a front-runner. But I look at people who have been in politics for five, ten, 15 years, see them muck up and think, 'You guys are supposed to be pro'!
"I bring something new to the table. I come from a working class background, it wasn't easy for me at all, but I worked hard. And now it's about giving something back," he told the newspaper.
Campbell this year campaigned alongside Tory candidates in the run-up to the general election, though he ruled out standing for Parliament in Kensington and Chelsea, insisting that his "ambitions lie elsewhere in the political arena".
He told The Sun: "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."
The Conservative Way Forward, a Thatcherite campaigning group within the Conservative party, confirmed that Campbell has signed up to take part in its mayoral hustings next month.
A Conservative Way Forward spokesman said: "We are delighted that candidates like Sol Campbell are throwing their hat in the ring, and coming to debate the future of London at our hustings on 4 July. It's decision time. The starting gun has been fired. Other candidates now need to decide: are they in or out? London's future is at stake."
Also in the running for the Tory candidacy are entrepreneur Ivan Massow, current deputy mayor Stephen Greenhalgh and London Assembly member Andrew Boff, while MP Zac Goldsmith has been tipped as a potential challenger.
Campbell refused to speculate on whether Spurs fans might boycott his candidacy after he left the White Hart Lane club for North London rivals Arsenal in 2001.
"If we keep thinking about football we're not going to do anything. We are dealing with people's lives here," the Sun quoted him as saying.