WATCH: Sadiq Khan SLAMMED for being ‘ASLEEP at the WHEEL’ by James Cleverly in London Mayor BID

Joining me now though is Sir James Cleverley who yesterday quit the Shadow Cabinet to launch his bid to become Mayor of London. This is the least surprising political news I've ever heard James Cleverley. I put this to you, how many times did I put this to you on this show and you were like oh I can't possibly comment? You should have just told me that this was the plan all along. I seem to know this was the plan before you knew it was the plan. Look I've been given this serious thought and I didn't want to get ahead of myself. I didn't want to make any snap decisions. I've thought about this long and hard. I love being in the Shadow Cabinet. I think the housing portfolio and the local government portfolio is an incredibly important portfolio but the simple truth of the matter is that Sadiq Khan has been asleep at the wheel as Mayor of London. He's let the city's reputation slip. He's let crime, particularly visible street crime, get largely out of control and whilst we've got loads of people who like to point the finger and comment, ultimately what we need is someone who's willing to get a grip and get it sorted. That's what I want to do. You can claim credit for this decision but this is a really important job and I want to make sure that the city has a mayor that loves it and unlocks its potential. We can hear the police in the background. The Met Police are busy at work this morning, James Cleverley. Thank you for fighting through the noise. Now Nigel Farage reckons you've done a runner, that basically you're worried reform are going to clean up in Essex. Obviously you're the MP for Braintree and that's why you're doing this because you're going to lose to the turquoises when the time comes. I guarantee there is zero chance that Braintree will return a reform MP. Look they're coming off the boil. When I talk to people in my constituency the thing that comes up about reform more than anything else is the five million pound dodgy gift that Nigel Farage has received and still hasn't properly explained and didn't declare. The fact is that they recognise, people in Braintree recognise, the people in London recognise that there's no point in just having people who point at problems and just say oh I don't like it, I don't like it, like a toddler. They want people who actually get a grip of the situation and make a positive difference. That's in Braintree, it's true in London and I intend to use my experience of working in London, of being on the police authority, chairing the fire authority, the London Waste and Recycling Board, putting forward proposals and plans to help reduce youth reoffending and youth violence back when I was at City Hall before becoming an MP and I want to make sure that London's potential is properly unlocked. You can have people that whinge about London to their heart's content, I intend to help London be a city we can all be proud of again. All right but hang on a minute, aren't you putting the cart before the horse? You haven't actually been selected by the Conservatives yet have you? No and there will be a process and when that process starts I'm going to throw myself into it but I want to make sure that both the Conservative Party when they select the candidates and Londoners as a whole know what I'm about, that they know what my experience is, they know what my priorities will be for this fantastic city and that's what I'm going to put forward to the Conservative Party in London and hopefully that's what I will put forward to Londoners as we go into the mayoral elections in 28. Just a point of clarification on Essex, I mean the Tories were all but wiped out of Essex in the local elections by reform weren't they? I mean you can't deny those electoral facts. I guarantee you that reform's high watermark is well behind us, they don't have any solutions and shouting at problems is one thing, actually dealing with those things is something else and what we have seen is pretty much wherever reform have actually got themselves elected they have let those voters down and I know that's what will happen in Essex and I also know that the feedback that I'm getting about Kemi is really really positive, that will continue to grow so Andy Burnham is on a bit of a bounce at the moment because basically he stayed away from parliament, he's not allowed any kind of scrutiny, he's chopping and changing on early release for example I think he's now on his fifth position in six weeks, he's not a leader he's a follower. Reform as I say their high watermark is way in the rearview mirror and Kemi has still got a huge amount of opportunity ahead of her so I have no doubt Braintree will stay Conservative and Kemi will be the Prime Minister at the next general election. Using the internet without a VPN, a virtual private network, is a bit like taking to the road without car insurance. All it takes is one unlucky moment to cost you a lot of cash. This video's sponsor is Private Internet Access, they are the VPN to help keep you safe. Click the link in the description below to find out why over 30 million people have downloaded PIA to protect themselves online. A virtual private network is an app that hides your IP address and helps keep your data private. When you're browsing the internet at home you give up a large amount of data to businesses, to shops and indeed to social media giants too. 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Also there's a 30 day money-back guarantee too. Visit piavpn.com forward slash gbnews to start protecting yourself digitally today. Well what one man's huge opportunity is another woman's huge mountain to climb. I mean you're behind in the polls and on early release. The conservatives were releasing criminals in their drives weren't they? Thousands of criminals released under the Tories. So sorry to be childish about it but you started it. The numbers of people being released by the proposals put forward by Labour completely eclipse any early release scheme that the conservatives put forward and when we were in government we never, we never released killers, violent criminals, sexual predators, paedophiles. These are the people who are still at the moment the ones who are being slated for early release. This is completely wrong, completely inappropriate. The Labour government have had two years, two years and they're still trying to blame things on their predecessors. This is on them. Well let's blame you for this. They chose and I pulled, now hang on, I pulled David Lammy up on this when I had him at Deputy Prime Minister's questions saying that he should make a clear statement that no sexual predators, no murderers, no killers, no violent criminals will be released. If they had done so, if he had made that commitment at that point we wouldn't be in this mess now. Well do you know when we wouldn't be in this mess now? If the conservatives over the course of 14 years had come up with more than net 500 prison places. 500 in 14 years. You know as well as I do, a big, you know as well as I do, a big part of this issue was because we decided that people should serve full sentences. We decided that people who are jailed for the most serious offences should serve longer in prison. So this is a by-product, by-product of us being tougher on crime and I make no apology as a conservative being tough on criminals and tough on crime. The fact is the Labour Party thought it was going to be easy, they thought they could just turn up and a few you know a few TikTok videos later they'd be popular but simple truth of the matter is government is not easy and Labour have shown themselves completely ill-prepared for government either at national level or here in London. Well I mean to be fair people judge you ill-prepared for government after you've been in for 14 years that's what you got booted out for but I'm sorry you make no apology. Shouldn't you apologise for failing to deport foreign criminals and for only providing for net 500 new prison places over the course of 14 years? That's not a legacy you can be proud of and I've not even mentioned former Justice Secretary Chris Grayling's disastrous prison reforms which saw a load of experienced prison officers retire early. Well Camilla as I say Andy Burnham has had five positions on this issue in six weeks. We never released violent criminals, we never released killers, we never released sexual predators. Labour were proposing, indeed are still proposing, to do those things. That is the difference. We as Conservatives take dealing with crime seriously. When I was Home Secretary there were more police officers in Essex for example than in any part of its history. Police numbers are going up, those numbers have fallen under Labour. Police numbers have fallen under Labour. I heard you talking about defence earlier on so domestic protection, international protection, we're now seeing Labour refusing to commit to their own policy. Can you just answer the question about 500 net? Well that was a mistake wasn't it? Can we just accept that it was a mistake that you didn't provide more prison places? 500 net over 15 years is frankly an aberration. Camilla we increased the size of the prison estate, we modernised the prison estate and as I say the relatively small number of early release schemes that we had under the Conservatives never included killers or sexual predators. That is the difference and the simple truth of the matter is that Andy Burnham has realised that being Prime Minister is a lot harder than he thought. You have left the Shadow Cabinet, do you know who's getting your job and can you tell us anything about Kemi Badenock's reshuffle? Look I don't know when the reshuffle is going to come, it's inevitable there is going to have to be one. Government departments have changed so the structure of Shadow Cabinet needs to reflect that. I said to Kemi earlier on this week that I wanted to be able to speak on a whole range of issues affecting London not just on housing and local government. She was very very gracious, I'm not going to pretend that she was over the moon that I was stepping away from Shadow Cabinet but she understood my reasons. Obviously she has got to be neutral with regards to the selection for Mayor of London but she knows me well, she knows my London roots, she knows the fact I'm experienced in London government and I think she was pleased, very pleased that I was putting myself forward. She can't have been that surprised can she? We've been discussing this for weeks. I love the idea that this has only just happened in the last few days. This has been discussed in Tory circles for weeks. Look there's a big difference between discussing, planning, thinking about things and actually coming to the final decision. I think you're right, I don't think this was the most shocking news that Kemi has ever been presented with but she was very very gracious, she was very kind in what she said about my contribution at Shadow Cabinet and I want to make sure that I help her become Prime Minister by becoming Mayor of London. But don't you face the same problem in London as Kemi faces in the country which is that the vote on the right is going to be split. You're going to go against Sadiq Khan if you're selected and Leila Cunningham. This is why the Conservatives are still not ahead in the polls. At the moment you've got no hope of forming a majority but don't despair James Cleverley because guess what? Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, hasn't ruled out another pact with the Conservatives. That's great news isn't it? Sorry Ed who? I mean look his big thing is desperately trying to get attention. I mean the bottom line is if you look to contemporary British politics you would be forgiven for forgetting the Lib Dems even exist. His whole big thing, this is why he spent the general election falling off paddle boards and messing around on water slides, he just wants to get attention. Just like reform, they don't have any real answers. It's just about trying to be in the media, trying to get attention. This comment by him, they are not relevant either in London when it comes to the mayoralty or nationally when it comes to government. The simple truth of the matter is there is only one party that takes the government of this country seriously and that is the Conservative Party. Well one final question, you may say that about reform and the Lib Dems but I tell you what they didn't do, they didn't produce a Boris wave of immigration that now means that one migrant every minute is being granted indefinite leave to remain in this country. I mean that's why you got dumped out of parliament isn't it? The simple truth of the matter is that the Labour government since the general election, bear in mind when I was Home Secretary I put in visa changes which significantly reduced the levels of migration to this country. The Labour party was against those proposals at the time and the way that they have dealt with the backlog of asylum applications is basically to wave them through. So they're trying to claim credit for reducing the waiting list for asylum but they've done it by basically green lighting almost everybody. That is the wrong way of doing it. They didn't take border control and migration seriously and the fact of the matter is that in London, just as they have done nationally, they thought it was going to be easy, they didn't have a plan and they have failed the people that voted for them. I intend to do something about it. All right James Cleverley, thank you for battling with both police sirens and indeed a earpiece that kept on falling out of your ear. Much appreciated and good luck with your quest to conquer London.