Reform UK has announced Laila Cunningham as its candidate for the 2028 London mayoral election, sparking outrage amongst English ethno-nationalists and some Reform supporters.
The announcement was made at a press conference in central London alongside party leader Nigel Farage, who described her as the future face of Reform’s campaign.
The former Crown Prosecution Service lawyer and current Westminster City councillor will challenge the long‑serving Labour mayor, Sadiq Khan, in a bid to reshape the capital’s future.
Cunningham was born in Paddington, London, to parents who emigrated from Egypt to the UK in the 1960s.
Faith identity
She proclaims to be a Muslim though there is very little public information about her personal religiosity or how her faith influences her politics beyond her self‑description. Her focus has been squarely on crime and social issues.
Laila Cunningham did host the first Conservative Ramadan iftar in Westminster North, which took place in April 2023 when she was a Conservative party councillor.
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While she describes herself as an assimilated “moderate Muslim”, there is limited information about how she interprets or practices her faith in her public life.
This ambiguity has led to speculation and debate about what her candidacy means for Muslim political representation.
Cunningham has said she believes criticism of Islam should be permitted as part of free speech, similar to criticism of Christianity, and that government should not legislate what can or cannot be said about religions.
She told interviewers: “If you want to criticise Islam, then it’s up to you. Everyone has their own opinions… People criticise Christianity… I don’t think there should be any law legislating how and what people can say in relation to different religions.”
She said that governments should not be responsible for policing everyday racism, except when someone incites violence.
“There always has been racists… society will deal with them … It’s not the government’s role… to interfere with that.”
She also made controversial comments about anti‑Muslim sentiments in Britain, stating: “I don’t blame people for feeling the way they do about Muslims… if you’ve never met a Muslim person, and all you’re seeing is the Pakistani Muslim rape gangs, if you’re seeing most of the terrorism, let’s face it, is not white supremacist, it’s Islamic terrorism.”
Her selection as Reform’s candidate has surprised many because the party is widely seen as far-right with hard‑line stances on immigration, integration and national identity.
Reform’s proposed policies include the mass deportation of illegal immigrants including women and children, controlled borders and scrapping DEI policies in the workplace, issues that have been weaponised as dog whistle against Muslim and minority communities.
Campaign
Cunningham trained and worked as a lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), where she handled criminal cases before entering electoral politics.
In 2022, she was elected to Westminster City Council as a Conservative councillor.
In June 2025, she defected from the Conservatives to Reform UK, saying she was “tired of defending failure” and frustrated by what she described as the government’s poor handling of crime, immigration and cost‑of‑living pressures.
At her launch with Reform leader Nigel Farage, Cunningham made crime and public safety the centrepiece of her manifesto.
She vowed a “new sheriff in town” approach to knife crime, drugs, robbery, shoplifting and rape, promising to give the Metropolitan Police “new marching orders”.
Her campaign focussing on crime, law enforcement, and social order raises pressing questions for the capital’s Muslim communities: will her policies tackle prejudice fairly, or could anti‑Muslim anti-migrant discrimination be emboldened under the guise of “law and order”.
