John Wilkin

IT might be 30 years since the Tories won a council seat in Islington, but the Local Conservative Association has decided a by-election in Junction ward is the perfect opportunity to get their heads back in the game, writes Isabel Loubser.

“In the past you needed 10 signatures for a nomination which was sometimes quite a big ask, but now you only need two,” said John Wilkin, who is running as the Tory candidate. There was no Conservative even on the ballot paper in the past two Islington by-elections, but Mr Wilkin says the party is now “trying to be more active”.

He added: “I’m not optimistic that we’re going to win, but being on the ballot paper is a start.”

The Tribune has interviewed a host of candidates in next week’s by-election over the past month and the full list of names is on our website.

Mr Wilkin, who has been living in the borough since 1997, added that he would push for “safer streets”. He said: “We need to be pushing the police to spend more money, and put more resources into dealing with crime. We need to prioritise it over the equality and diversity agenda.”

It has been argued the Met has been hampered by a lack of funding from previous Tory govern­ments but Mr Wilkin told the Tribune: “They seem to have the resources to go after people who tweet things people don’t like.”

He added: “There are four varieties of socialism on offer. If you don’t like any of them, if you don’t believe in socialism, you can vote for me.”

The by-election was called after council leader Kaya Comer-Schwartz left for a job with London mayor Sadiq Khan.