Andrew Boff Quits Tories Over Kemi Badenoch's Stance on Human Rights
London Assembly chair leaves after 53 years, saying Badenoch's hardline line on the ECHR has pushed moderates out of the party
By AXY Politics Desk ·
Key points
- London Assembly chair Andrew Boff has resigned from the Conservative Party after 53 years of membership.
- He was blocked from standing as the Tory candidate for London mayor because he supports the European Convention on Human Rights.
- Boff plans to stand for London mayor as an independent and has criticised Kemi Badenoch's leadership.
- Gavin Barwell has publicly backed Boff and warned others would follow, while many other Tories reportedly sent support privately.
- The column argues that moderate Conservatives who reject Badenoch's stance should speak up while they still can.
The chair of the London Assembly, Andrew Boff, has resigned from the Conservative Party after 53 years of membership. He quit after being blocked from entering the race to be the Tory candidate for London mayor, because he supports the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). That position puts him directly at odds with the hardline stance of Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader.
Boff has said he is now planning to stand for London mayor as an independent. Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee, writing an opinion column, described his departure as the act of one of many Conservatives who reject Badenoch's approach, and argued that others should be brave enough to follow him.
The Conservative Party has long been split between a centre-right strand and a more sceptical, hard-line wing. Badenoch's leadership has shifted the balance sharply, according to the column, toward the sceptical side. For ordinary readers, the stakes are concrete. The ECHR is the human rights treaty that sets out protections such as the right to a fair trial and freedom from arbitrary detention, and a change in how Britain relates to it would affect those protections for everyone in the country.
Why Boff Was Barred From the Mayoral Race
Boff applied, for the seventh time, to be considered as the Conservative candidate for London mayor. According to the column, he did not expect to be selected. He did not expect to be summoned and told he was barred from the race either.
The column says the party's candidate-vetting committee rejected him because of his support for the ECHR. Boff told the columnist that the committee did not listen to his case. "They just repeated the same tropes, that activist judges are using the ECHR against parliament."
The barrier is not new. In an interview last year, Badenoch said rebels "should not and cannot stand as a Conservative candidate" if they did not agree with leaving the ECHR. The column also says she bars anyone who supports net zero, the UK's target to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions. For a party that once had many candidates across a wide political range, those rules narrow the field sharply.
Churchill, the ECHR and the Asylum Question
Boff's case rests partly on history. In a statement, he pointed out that Winston Churchill helped found the ECHR after the Second World War. He argued that the convention "was never a leftwing project" and described it as a "safeguard against arbitrary government". The convention was drafted in the years after the war, and Churchill was a prominent backer of the idea that European states should guarantee basic rights to their citizens.
Boff also made a practical argument about the debate over asylum. Badenoch's main justification for leaving the treaty is the problem of asylum seekers. Boff told the columnist that the "convention doesn't even mention asylum seekers". That point goes to the heart of the disagreement. If the treaty does not directly govern asylum policy, the case for leaving it on those grounds is open to question, and it is a claim that voters on both sides can test for themselves.
Who Stayed Silent and Why
The column says Boff was not the only Conservative to object, but that most others kept their views private. Gavin Barwell, who was chief of staff in Downing Street under Theresa May, publicly backed Boff. He warned Badenoch that others would follow him over the ECHR issue. The rest, the column says, sent messages of support privately. They did not want to be seen to dissent under a leadership that, in the columnist's words, does not tolerate dissent.
That pattern matters because it shows how a party's internal debate can move out of public view. A politician who stays inside the party keeps a seat at the table, but may lose the ability to say what they think. Boff has now chosen the opposite path, and the column argues that his choice gives him freedom to speak plainly about the leader.
Boff's Charge Against Badenoch's Leadership
Boff has been openly critical of Badenoch's leadership. He complained to the columnist that the energy and resources that should promote the party "all go to promoting Kemi, Kemi, Kemi". The column also reports that Boff, who in 2015 encouraged Badenoch to stand for the London Assembly, now describes her as "lazy and combative". Badenoch served on the London Assembly until 2017, before she was elected to parliament.
Boff's warning goes beyond personal grievance. He said there may come a time when extremists win an election with a smaller vote share than Labour's 34% in 2024, and then overturn all human rights legislation, without the protections the ECHR gives. "That's what authoritarian governments do," Boff said.
The column also frames the dispute in terms of Boff's own record of dissent. In 2023, Boff was ejected from the Conservative conference after quietly heckling the then home secretary, Suella Braverman, during her speech. He accused her of homophobia and transphobia. Boff, who is gay, said at the time that her speech was a "signal to people who don't like people who are LGBT+" and called it "trash". He said Braverman "was basically vilifying gay people and trans people by this attack on LGBT ideology".
The Moderate Tories Left Behind
Boff was not the first moderate Conservative to clash with the party over its direction. Robert Buckland, a former Tory MP and director of the Tory Reform Group, defended Boff after his ejection from the 2023 conference. Buckland said heckling was "part of the democratic debate" and described the treatment by security staff as "heavy-handed". Buckland was among the many one-nationers who lost their seats at the 2024 general election.
The column argues that the traditional one-nation strand of Conservatism has not disappeared, even though many of its politicians have gone. Some of its former voters now back the Liberal Democrats, and others have stopped voting altogether. For the Conservatives, that is a loss of support that can be measured in ballot boxes as well as in party membership.
Boff's views, the column says, reflect a growing centre-right moderate strand that has been pushed out or silenced under Badenoch. Toynbee's argument is that this group is the only realistic chance for the party's future, and that more people should speak up while they can.
What Boff's Independent Bid Could Mean
Boff's decision to run as an independent for London mayor is the next test. Standing outside the party gives him a platform that he did not have as a member, but it also means he will have to build support without the Conservative organisation behind him. Independent candidates for mayor face a steep path, and his campaign will show whether there is a visible audience for moderate Conservative views in the capital.
The other test is whether more Conservatives follow him. The column says many have sent private messages of support, and Barwell has publicly warned of others leaving. If several more people resign, the party would face a harder question about whether its current line on the ECHR and net zero can hold its moderate supporters. If they stay quiet, the internal debate may continue largely out of view, with the same rules and the same pressure on dissent.
For voters in London and across the country, the outcome matters. The ECHR affects the rights of everyone who lives under British law, and the Conservative stance on it may shape the party's policies if it wins power again. Whether Boff's departure becomes a wider break, or a single resignation in a long dispute, will depend on what his rivals and colleagues decide to do next.
Questions and answers
Why did Andrew Boff leave the Conservative Party?
Boff resigned after being blocked from entering the race to be the Tory candidate for London mayor. He was barred because he supports the European Convention on Human Rights, which puts him at odds with Kemi Badenoch's hardline position.
Will Andrew Boff stand for London mayor?
Boff is planning to stand for London mayor as an independent. Leaving the party means he can speak openly about Badenoch, according to the column.
What is the European Convention on Human Rights?
The ECHR is a human rights treaty that Churchill helped found after the Second World War, according to Boff. Badenoch has argued for leaving it, and Boff says it was never a leftwing project.
Are other Conservatives backing Boff?
Gavin Barwell, a former Downing Street chief of staff under Theresa May, has publicly backed Boff. The column says many other Tories sent support privately, not publicly.
Topics: Andrew Boff, Kemi Badenoch, Conservative Party, European Convention on Human Rights, London mayor, Polly Toynbee, Robert Buckland
Sources: The Guardian Politics