Diane Abbott expected to announce she will run to be London Mayor

It’s rumoured that tomorrow at London Labour party conference Diane Abbott, the MP for Hackney and Stoke Newington, will announce that she will run to be Labour’s candidate for Mayor of London.

Abbott  was Shadow Minister for Public Health until last year and has been the Labour MP for the north east London constituency for twenty seven years – where she doubled her majority in 2010. Prior to becoming an MP she was elected to Westminster City Council in 1982. Abbott is expected to say:

“Now is not the time for a formal declaration. But I am certainly planning to run to become Labour’s candidate to replace Boris Johnson and I am working on my bid.”

It has long been suspected that Abbott would throw her name into the hat to be mayor – if she does, she will join Christian Wolmar, David Lammy MP, and Tessa Jowell MP. Others who are also expected to enter into the race include Sadiq Khan MP and Margaret Hodge MP.

We’ll keep you updated on any further developments.