Tory mayoral hopeful Susan Hall vowed to make London’s streets safe as she told of her terror at facing death threats on her own doorstep.
The former businesswoman promised to take a “zero tolerance” approach to crime in the capital that is “more stick than carrot” if she wins in May.
Ms Hall said she would “rather be hungry” than feel unsafe after the lasting impact of the incident.
She revealed how a gang of women followed her home and said “we are going to ******* kill you”.
Although the threat happened “quite a long time ago” before she had entered politics “it stays with you”.
“The people that threatened it were more than capable of doing it. They followed me home”, Ms Hall said.
“I’ll never forget the fear. And I’m not easy to feel fear, I’m quite robust. But I knew they were more than capable of doing something.
“I always have said since I would rather be hungry than feel unsafe.”
She said that under Labour’s Sadiq Khan “it has become so much more dangerous” in London.
Ms Hall added: “I will never forget the knot in the stomach and the sense of absolute terror. Because if you know what people are capable of, and they really are, you just don’t want to go there.”
She vowed to spend “four years making our streets safer” if she wins against Mr Khan.
Ms Hall, who worked in her father’s garage after leaving school and can strip down an engine, went on to run hair and beauty businesses. She has been a member of the London Assembly since 2017 and is convinced the Conservatives can win back the city.
But her campaign has had some rocky moments, including tweets uncovered by Hope Not Hate that appeared to endorse messages about Enoch Powell.
One included the statement “it’s never too late to get London back” next to an image of Powell.
Ms Hall insisted she “whips through” tweets and would not have noticed it was a phrase linked to Powell.
The London Assembly member said she had never read or listened to the speech until recently and was “appalled by the language in it”.
Ms Hall, who has vowed to axe the hated ultra low emission zone (Ulez) charge on day one if she wins, said she will also scrap 20-mile-an-hour limits on major roads and look at low-traffic neighbourhoods in a bid to “get the city moving again”.
She dismissed claims that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is failing to give her enough support.
“I’m here to get elected, which I really am convinced I will do,” she said.
“He’s working his butt off. Absolutely. I don’t need people to tweet saying she’s wonderful, etcetera. He’s busy trying to get things right in the country.”
