Susan Hall suffers car crash LBC interview in which Tory London mayoral candidate is unable to say what a Met PC’s starting salary is, the cost of a bus ticket or who owns a …
Susan Hall #SusanHall
London Tory mayoral candidate Susan Hall suffered a radio interview meltdown today in which she was unable to say how much a bus ticket was in the capital – because she doesn’t use them.
In a difficult Call Hall phone-in on LBC she admitted she did not know the £1.75 cost of a single fare because she takes the train to and from her home in suburban Harrow.
She was also unable to say what the starting salary of a Metropolitan Police constable was and struggled with a question about who owns a Thames Bridge currently closed to traffic amid a row over its upkeep.
And she also admitted ‘liking’ a tweet in 2020 that suggested the US presidential election result had been ‘stolen’ from Donald Trump, saying: ‘I never intended to go into this level of politics.’
In a difficult Call Hall phone-in on LBC she admitted she did not know the £1.75 cost of a single fare because she takes the train to and from her home in suburban Harrow.
After an attack on Mr Khan’s decision last week to freeze Transport for London fares on buses and the London Underground ahead of the election, she admitted: ‘I don’t use them. I use trains all the time… I use lots of trains to get around London.’
And she also admitted ‘liking’ a tweet in 2020 that suggested the US presidential election result had been ‘stolen’ from Donald Trump , saying: ‘I never intended to go into this level of politics.’
Ms Hall is set to go head-to-head with Labour incumbent mayor Sadiq Khan in May’s election, where she is seeking to unseat him after eight years in charge of the capital.
She told LBC Mr Khan should be focusing more on fighting crime than moaning about Brexit, after he used a weekend speech to call for more freedom of movement with the EU.
Asked about the starting salary for a Met constable – currently £37,000 – she said they ‘start about 30 something, and it goes up from there’.
She added: ‘I think they cost us, a bobby costs about 60k. With the ongoing costs, don’t forget, it’s not they’re just their wages.’
Then, after an attack on Mr Khan’s decision last week to freeze Transport for London fares on buses and the London Underground ahead of the election, she admitted: ‘I don’t use them. I use trains all the time… I use lots of trains to get around London.’
She was also unable to say how much a bus single fare is – £1.75.
Ms Hall also admitted she had liked a 2020 tweet suggesting Mr Trump had been cheated out of an lection win by allies of Democrat Joe Biden.
She quote tweeted a Republican pundit who claimed three lorries brought 130,000 votes for Biden to be counted in Detroit in ‘the dead of night’, adding: ‘If this is correct no wonder Trump is calling it out.’
Ms Hall said the bridge was owned by ‘two councils’. It has been owned by the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham since 1986.
Asked about the tweet today, Ms Hall said it was an ‘old tweet and she ‘used to like things on Twitter … you like and repeat things you don’t always like.’
She was also asked about the cost of repairing Hammersmith Bridge, which has rocketed to £250million after TfL and Sadiq Khan refused to foot an initial £40million bill.
It’s been almost five years since the 137-year-old bridge was closed on safety grounds and fears are growing that the Thames crossing may never reopen to vehicles.
Talks over funding the repairs have reached a stalemate, with sources admitting that there is no sign of progress despite understandable fury from residents.
Ms Hall said the bridge was owned by ‘two councils’. It has been owned by the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham since 1986.
Share or comment on this article: Susan Hall suffers car crash LBC interview in which Tory London mayoral candidate is unable to say what a Met PC’s starting salary is, the cost of a bus ticket or who owns a bridge over the Thames – and admits ‘liking’ Trump conspiracy tweet