Who is London mayoral candidate Brian Rose?

BRIAN Rose is a controversial podcaster who is running to become Mayor of London.

The former heroin addict and banker now wants to take on Sadiq Khan.

Who is London mayoral candidate Brian Rose?

Brian Rose was born in San Diego in May 1971.

He spent his early career as a banker in New York City and London.

Rose became a British citizen in 2007.

He launched the podcast and YouTube channel London Real in 2011 and has remained as its host and chief executive.

Rose controversially interviewed David Icke on the platform in April 2020 where Icke falsely claimed the coronavirus pandemic was a scam and 5G masts could poison people.

The video was removed by YouTube after it tightened its rules about websites spreading conspiracy theories about Covid-19.

Rose defended the interview in The Times saying: “I’m proud we broadcast it. We fought against censorship last year because I want people to have these discussions and I want to have them out in the open.” But he added, “By no means do I agree with everything he says.”

He has encouraged “everyone to get the vaccine”.

He completed an Ironman competition in 2018.

He is married to Mariana and they have two sons.

Why is Brian Rose standing to be London mayor?

Rose is standing for his own London Real Party.

He explained his reasons for running for London mayor to the Evening Standard, saying: “Last year I started thinking, 20 years from now my young boys, aged three and four, are going to say, ‘Daddy, what did you do in the great crisis of 2021? Did you make videos or do something?’ I told my wife, ‘Honey, I’m going to run for Mayor. She said ‘Why? Your business has never been bigger.’ I had to do it for London.”

In the London Elects leaflet sent out to homes recently he lists five key polices:

• He wants to abolish the congestion charge and launch a 31-day festival to get London working
• A promise to make London safer for all by setting up 250 community centres and 10,000 new community police officers.
• Building 50,000 affordable homes by Christmas and 100,000 every year after that.
• Investing profits from new developments back into local communities.
• A ten-year plan to make “the transport network work for you”.

Could Brian Rose become London mayor?

Khan is the frontrunner in the race for mayor with the bookies but they seem uncertain about Rose’s chances.

Both PaddyPower and Betfair give him odds of 7/1 while Bet365 and Unibet give odds of 12/1.

William Hill and BetVictor are offering odds of 20/1.