Deputy Mayor Stephen Greenhalgh wants to succeed Boris Johnson

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Deputy Mayor Stephen Greenhalgh today announced he wants to succeed Boris Johnson at City Hall.

Greehalgh will bid to become the Conservative candidate to fight the 2016 London mayoral election.

It makes him the third Tory to come forward into a field already crowded with Labour candidates.

Speaking to the Standard’s editor Sarah Sands on London Live he said: "It's been an immense privilege working for Boris in the last two and a half years. I've enjoyed it more than I ever thought possible.

"But I've decided today to announce the fact that I want to succeed Boris in 2016. I'm putting my name forward."

Greenhalgh said he thinks Johnson, leaving City Hall to become an MP, is "the greatest mayor of the greatest city in the world".

But he went on to explain he would "be his own man", highlighting how he cut council tax five times in six years while leader at Hammersmith and Fulham Council.

The Deputy Mayor said regeneration and delivering better services despite a squeeze on public spending would be his priorities.

He added: "That's the only job I want in politics. That's why I put my hat into the ring."

Greenhalgh joins London entrepreneur Ivan Massow, who announced his intention to run for the Tory candidacy in the Standard last month, and London Assembly member Andrew Boff.

The Labour field so far includes Dulwich and West Norwood MP Dame Tessa Jowell, Tottenham MP David Lammy, Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP Diane Abbott and Christian Wolmar.

Other potential Labour candidates include shadow justice secretary and Tooting MP Sadiq Khan, Barking MP Margaret Hodge and former Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis.