The UK is expected to have a general election by the end of the year, with Boris Johnson hoping to win a majority for the Conservative Party. But one of his vanquished rivals for the leadership race earlier this year has come up with a bold new strategy.
Rory Stewart, who was in the running to become Britain's prime minister earlier this year, has resigned from the Conservative Party and announced he is going to run for Mayor of London as an independent candidate.
Mr Stewart, a former army office and International Aid Secretary, was one of 21 rebel Tories who voted to introduce a new law, known as the Benn Act, designed to block Britain from leaving the European Union without a deal.
Mr Stewart, MP for a constituency in Cumbria since 2010, tweeted that it had been a “great privilege” to serve Penrith and The Border for a decade.
He then almost immediately announced he would be running in the elections in May 2020 for Mayor of London, where he will be up against Labour's Sadiq Khan, the Conservative Shaun Bailey and Siobhan Benita, from the Liberal Democrats.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised to deliver Brexit on 31 October with or without a deal, tearing the Tory Party apart.
Last month Mr Stewart was reportedly flirting with the Liberal Democrats and earlier this week he told the Cliveden Literary Festival he was thinking of setting up a new centrist party, based on Emmanuel Macron's En Marche.
Mr…
