A crisis meeting of the London board of the Conservative Party has been called tomorrow, according to London Conservative sources, to decide whether to reopen the selection process to pick a candidate for the London Mayor election next May.
The move comes in defiance of Rishi Sunak and party chairman Greg Hands, himself a West London MP, who decided to go ahead with just two potential candidates after Daniel Korski dramatically quit today after a series of sexual assault allegations.
There had already been serious question marks over the conduct of the selection after the two frontrunners – Minister for London Paul Scully and former Downing Street adviser Sam Kasumu – were mysteriously eliminated in a behind-closed-doors process.
But senior party activists in the London party were tonight described as being “absolutely furious” that Tory headquarters (CCHQ) had announced that the contest would continue with a shortlist of two instead of three.
It leaves a choice between London Assembly member Susan Hall, who got the third spot after a run-off with Mr Scully, and unknown Mozammel Hossain, a leading barrister with no political experience or track record.
One London senior party member told Express.co.uk: “There is a lot of anger.”
But another source said that Mr Hands is “determined to go on with two.”
But the meeting of the board invalidates a press release sent out by CCHQ saying that the contest would be reduced to two.
Mr Kasumu has already issued a statement demanding that the contest be reopened.
Meanwhile, former Tory London Mayor candidate Steven Norris has pointed out that when Lord Archer was forced to quit the race in 2000 the party reopened the contest.
Mr Norris said: “When Archer resigned in 2000 the party reran the process. It was much later in the day but it didn’t stop us running a pretty decent campaign.
“Surely that has to happen now. Having a choice of two, however good they are, just isn’t reasonable or sensible.”
It is also understood that supporters of Mr Scully are reforming his campaign team in the hope that he will be back in the contest.
The row has led to questions about whether Mr Hands should continue in his role as chairman.
He already made a gaffe in the local elections by predicting that a bad day would see the party lose 1,000 seats in an expectation management exercise with the party ultimately losing even more.
Concerns had already been raised about the selection process for London Mayor and Mr Hands’s refusal to now reconsider.
One MP said: “Greg has been very disappointing. We all expected better and he just keeps messing up.”
A senior London party member said: “Greg has let this mess get out of hand. He needs to get a grip on the process and start again.”
Another said: “We have to defeat Sadiq Khan before he does any more damage to London. Unless we get this selection right we don’t stand a chance.”
Currently, he is already under huge pressure organising a series of by-elections including the one in Uxbridge and South Ruislip where Boris Johnson stepped down.
