‘I promise to bring a sleeping bag and a box of chocolates!’: Now Rory Stewart launches #ComeKipWithMe campaign and asks Londoners if he can ‘sleep on their sofas’ in bizarre bid to boost bid to be capital’s next mayor
- Rory Stewart is standing an an independent candidate in the London mayor race
- He launched a ‘Come Kip With Me’ campaign, seeking invites to people’s homes
- He said he wants to see the capital through the eyes of ordinary London voters
- London mayoral election is taking place in May this year, Sadiq Khan is favourite
Rory Stewart today launched a bizarre bid to boost his hopes of becoming the next Mayor of London as he asked voters to invite him to stay at their homes.
The independent candidate has launched a new initiative called ‘Come Kip With Me’ so that he can be shown the capital through the eyes of ordinary Londoners.
He pledged to arrive at homes with a ‘sleeping bag and a box of chocolates’ as the announcement instantly sparked online mockery, jokes and suggestions it was ‘a tad creepy’.
Mr Stewart said: ‘Today I am launching Come Kip With Me – asking Londoners to invite me into their homes and show me the city through their eyes.
‘I want to know your concerns and your ideas. And I promise to bring a sleeping bag and a box of chocolates!’
Mr Stewart is hoping to oust incumbent Sadiq Khan when London goes to the polls in May this year and he is pulling out all of the stops to try to make an impression on the race.
Rory Stewart is asking Londoners if he can stay at their houses in the run up to the London mayor election in May
Mr Stewart promised to bring his own sleeping bag. He said he wanted to see London through the eyes of the people who live there
The former Cabinet minister was stripped of the Tory whip last year after rebelling over Brexit.
He then decided not to stand at the 2109 general election, electing instead to throw his hat in the ring in the race for City Hall.
The 47-year-old is aiming to walk through each of the city’s 32 boroughs during his mission to unseat Mr Khan, repeating the strategy he used in his unsuccessful attempt to become Tory leader last year.
The former diplomat, who walked across Afghanistan in 2002, posted a video online calling for places to stay as he journeys across the capital during the listening exercise.
He said he hoped the ‘Come Kip With Me’ initiative would help him better understand the problems and challenges faced by Londoners.
He said: ‘Fixing London’s issues – whether on crime, housing, or our air quality – will not come from issuing press releases or edicts from a distant office building.
‘It comes from getting out into communities across the capital, staying with people – listening to their concerns, as well as their ideas for the best solutions.
‘So that’s why I’m launching ‘Come Kip With Me!’ – asking Londoners to show me their life and their city.
‘Already I’ve stayed with a young man on a council estate in Lambeth, and with “the Queen of Newham” who helps rough sleepers every single night.
‘These experiences, and the many more to come, will make me a better Mayor of London – governing from the ground in every borough.’
The announcement, made in the form of a video published on Twitter, was welcomed by some online but others mocked it and questioned the wisdom of the move.
One user said it was a ‘cool idea’ but that Mr Stewart had made it seem ‘a tad creepy’.
Another jokingly compared it to Pulp’s famous Common People song from the 1990s while someone else suggested Mr Stewart was proposing the ‘worst Tinder date ever’.
Another Twitter user claimed the former Cabinet minister ‘gets weirder by the hour’.