Tim Hailes, a former City solicitor and prominent diversity and inclusion campaigner who had been in line to become the City of London’s first out gay Lord Mayor, has withdrawn his candidacy after learning of criminal proceedings involving someone “closely connected” to a former employer.
The City of London Corporation (CLC) issued a short statement on Sunday (27 September), announcing that Hailes, a former associate general counsel at JPMorgan, had notified the Court of Aldermen of his withdrawal from the election, which will be held this Tuesday.
Hailes – the preferred candidate for the mayoralty to succeed Dame Susan Langley – said today (28 September) in a statement that he had become “aware late last week that someone closely connected to a previous employer where I was a director and shareholder is subject to criminal proceedings. This in no way involves me, and I am not personally under investigation”.
He said he had decided to withdraw to “ensure that there is no possibility of any damage to the mayoralty or the City’s reputation” but hoped “to be considered for the mayoralty at a later date”.
The CLC said that the 2027/28 candidate, Bronek Masojada, former chief executive of insurer Hiscox, would now receive the support of the Court of Aldermen in this year’s election.
“The arrangements for the election of the next Lord Mayor will continue as planned, with the election taking place at Common Hall on Tuesday 29 September,” it added. “The Lord Mayor-elect will be formally admitted into office on 13 November 2026.”
In a post on LinkedIn, Hailes wrote: “I want to thank everyone for the messages of support at this very difficult time. I’m obviously hugely disappointed, but this is the right thing to do in the circumstances for the Mayoralty and the City about which I care so deeply.
“The whole point of the ‘Modern Mayoralty’ programme is that the office is bigger than the individual. It must be so.”
The Lord Mayor is chosen from the 25 aldermen and alderwomen in the Square Mile who have also served as sheriff.
Hailes, the alderman for Bassishaw, spent two decades at JPMorgan in senior legal and regulatory roles before joining blockchain platform Blockthree Holdings in 2019 as general counsel, where he spent five years. He is currently a partner at management consultancy Meridian Global Strategies.
Earlier in his career, he worked at legacy Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft and trained and qualified at legacy Wilde Sapte, now Dentons.
According to his LinkedIn profile, his “commitment to diversity and inclusion dates back to 1994 as one of the very few openly gay lawyers in the financial services industry”.
He was appointed to the magistracy by the Lord Chancellor in autumn 2012 on the Central London bench sitting at Westminster and City of London Law Courts.
In June, the corporation said that, subject to election, Hailes was in line to become Lord Mayor.
The office combines leadership of the Square Mile’s governing body with an international role representing the UK’s financial and professional services sector.
In his LinkedIn post, Hailes wrote of the office: “We all sometimes forget that these roles – and those across the Livery movement – are entirely unpaid voluntary public service. I am very proud to be a member of a community that is so generous in its giving and selflessness.”
Masojada served as Sheriff of the City of London from 2023-24 and is the alderman for Billingsgate. His selection still depends on the election process: the livery at Common Hall returns two eligible aldermen, from whom the court chooses the next Lord Mayor.
The withdrawal of a preferred mayoral candidate ahead of an election is unprecedented in modern times. The last time it is believed to have happened was in 1927.
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