page_title: Zac Goldsmith
section_title: London mayoral campaign
hierarchical_section_title: Zac Goldsmith / Political career / London mayoral campaign
caption_attribution_description: English: Sadiq Khan at Election Night at the London Embassy, 8 November 2016.
context_page_description: Frank Zacharias Robin Goldsmith, Baron Goldsmith of Richmond Park PC is a British politician and journalist who serves as Minister of State for Pacific and the Environment. He was Member of Parliament for Richmond Park from 2017 to 2019, previously holding the seat between 2010 and 2016. A member of the Conservative Party, he was its candidate at the 2016 London mayoral election, which he lost to Sadiq Khan of the Labour Party. Ideologically characterised as having liberal and libertarian views, Goldsmith is known for his environmentalist and localist beliefs.
  Born in London, the son of billionaire businessman and financier Sir James Goldsmith of the Goldsmith family, he was educated at Eton College and the Cambridge Centre for Sixth-form Studies. In 1998, his uncle Edward Goldsmith made him editor of The Ecologist, a position he retained until 2007. Goldsmith was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Quality of Life Policy Group in 2005, co-authoring its report published in 2007.
context_section_description: Goldsmith had initially ruled out standing as a candidate in the 2016 London Mayoral election, stating that "I think people have had quite enough of white male Etonians". However, as the election approached, it became apparent that he was the Conservatives' strongest potential candidate. On 9 June 2015, Goldsmith announced his interest in running for the mayoralty of London after encouragement both from members of his own party and others (notably the former Green Party Candidate Jenny Jones, Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb). Before declaring himself as a nominee, Goldsmith spent around £50,000 of his own money sending a postal ballot to his 77,000 Richmond Park constituents, asking them if they would consent to him standing for Mayor. A majority who responded supported him. On 23 June 2015, he formally put his name forward with his three rivals being Andrew Boff, Syed Kamall, and Stephen Greenhalgh. The London Conservatives held an open primary, in which 9,227 votes were cast; of these, 6,514 went to Goldsmith. In October, Goldsmith's selection as Conservative Mayoral candidate was announced in a press release without accompanying ceremony.
  During his campaign, Goldsmith repeatedly spoke out against proposed expansion of Heathrow Airport. He stated that he was confident that the Cameron government would reject Heathrow expansion but that if they did not then he would resign as an MP and trigger a by-election. In July 2015, he also condemned the Airports Commission report written by the economist Howard Davies which backed Heathrow expansion; Goldsmith claimed that Davies had already decided on his conclusion before producing the three-year study. Davies responded by alleging that Goldsmith was lying, but the latter stood by his claim, as evidence citing that information he supplied to Davies' commission was not taken seriously.
  A key issue in the campaign was London's housing shortage. To deal with the problem, Goldsmith suggested building "high density, low-rise buildings which are in keeping with communities" on publicly owned land currently controlled by the boroughs or Transport for London. He went against prevailing opinion in London by welcoming foreign investment into the property market, arguing that this investment could help to finance more house building. He ruled out supporting development on London's Green Belt, although stated that option might need to be considered in ten or fifteen years hence if the city's population continued to rise. He also suggested an expansion of the London congestion zone, and endorsed Boris Johnson's plans to construct a Garden Bridge across the River Thames.
  Goldsmith hired Lynton Crosby's company to run his campaign and appointed Mark Fulbrook as his campaign director. Goldsmith's campaign emphasised connections between London Labour candidate Sadiq Khan and newly elected socialist Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, despite Khan's own attempts to distance himself from Corbyn. Both the Conservative campaign and several Conservative-aligned newspapers sought to tar Khan as an apologist for, or even sympathiser with, Islamic extremism. Goldsmith's campaign material referred to Khan as "radical and divisive", while comments on the Conservatives' Facebook campaign material often displayed anti-Muslim sentiment.
  Labour accused Goldsmith's campaign of using 'dog-whistle politics' and racist or Islamophobic campaigning. In April 2016, Labour MP Yvette Cooper wrote "What started as a subtle dog-whistle is becoming a full blown racist scream". Conservative politician Baroness Warsi also criticised Goldsmith for using an image of the bus destroyed in the 7/7 terrorist attacks to illustrate an article he wrote. Goldsmith was also accused of 'racial profiling' voters in the London mayoral campaign. Goldsmith strongly denied claims his campaign had been racist and accused his rival Khan of 'playing the race card'. The Conservatives responded it was "utterly predictable that Labour label their opponents as racists", citing the fact that during the 2008 mayoral campaign, the party had also accused Jo
caption: Goldsmith was defeated by Labour candidate Sadiq Khan
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