Morrissey considers running for Mayor of London

The British musician Morrissey, former lyricist and vocalist of the band The Smiths, is considering “very seriously” running as a candidate for mayor of London for the Animal Welfare Party, he announced on Monday on his website.

Steven Patrick Morrissey, known simply as Morrissey, 56, said he intends to fight “against the hellish and archaic social injustice allotted to animals”.

The singer and writer of ‘Meat is Murder’ who is an activist for animal rights and vegetarian diets, said that “What animal protectionists need to say is very well worth saying and well worth hearing.”

“But we cannot just sit around waiting for establishment enlightenment. The sanctimonious disaster of animal agriculture cannot be allowed to go on forever, because its widespread impact is hellish,” he added.

The leader of the Animal Welfare Party, Vanessa Hudson, told the BBC that she hopes “to see the mayoral contest include the views of a candidate who would seek to champion London, not only as a worldleading city for people but for animal welfare, too.”

The elections will be held on May 5 to choose a successor to conservative Boris Johnson, who will not run for a third term.

Morrissey’s main rivals for mayor are the Conservative Zac Goldsmith, 41, son of billionaire James Goldsmith, and Labour Sadiq Khan, 45, who is of Pakistani descent.