London Mayoral candidate Drillminister accuses Sadiq Khan of ‘clout-chasing’

By Charlie Parry and Toby Porter

Rapper Drillminister is one of the outsiders standing to become London’s next Mayor in the vote on May 6.

The Woolwich-raised musician is one of 18 candidates – but has stood out on the campaign trail because he wears a balaclava and sunglasses to hide his face on TV.

He also changed his name by deed poll, further hiding his original identity, because he wants his words to speak directly to his audience, rather than through his personality.

But the Woolwich-raised artist is unmistakably political, with songs titled “NI Backstop”, “No Deal Brexit” and “People’s Vote” in his back catalogue.

He made his name outside drill music with his October 2018 track Political Drillin.

Its lyrics were the very words of violence used by politicians in the House of Commons – turning back on them the claim that the language of young music was encouraging gang confrontations and the spilling of blood.

Before that, he had worked as a sound engineer for artists SL, from Clapham, and Tottenham’s Headie One.

Drillminister grew up on a council estate with his mother and three younger brothers.

All he will say about his age is “old enough to vote, but under 30”.

Of his mask, he said: “We’ve become conditioned that a man in a suit who shows his face is trustworthy. He is not.”

He told the South London Press: “I am running for London Mayor because right now we are living in one of the most unequal and corrupt cities in the world.

“Half of London’s wealth is owned by an elite few, while half a million of London’s children are expected to go hungry this Christmas.

“In one of the richest nations in the world, hundreds of thousands of Londoners rely on food banks to survive.”

He announced his candidacy in January this year, though he had made plain his candidacy to the South London Press in April 2019.

He has described the Conservative mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey as “the token black guy the Tory party banked on”.

He told the New Statesman: “London mayor has become a launch pad for political advancement for everyone who’s taken the role.

“Boris Johnson just did legacy things – Boris island, Boris bikes, the guy would’ve had a Boris McDonald’s if he could.

“Now, Sadiq Khan is trying to be the first Asian prime minister, stoking fire with the most powerful man in the world [Donald Trump] so his name can be well known.

“We do that in urban music – it’s called ‘clout-chasing’. Khan is clout-chasing, doing Trump blimps, while people’s sons are dying on the road from knife crime.

“A lot of MPs have two faces: a public face and private face. I’ve got one, and it’s got a bally on it. It gives me the autonomy to say it how it is.”

He has discussed youth violence and air pollution on programmes such as Good Morning Britain, Victoria Derbyshire, Channel 4 News and Newsnight.

It was during a debate with Bailey about knife crime on Newsnight in March 2019 that Drillminister decided to run for the London mayoralty.

“I’m more representative of the streets than him,” he said.

His manifesto pledges include capped peak-time rail tickets for those earning less than £21,000 a year, new stations for poorly connected areas and top-up cards that allow homeless people to buy food, shelter and clothes.

His great-grandfather was born in Saint Kitts, and died in the Second World War fighting for a Caribbean air crew in the RAF – there is a monument there with his name on it.

His mother gave him books to read aloud to her every night while he was in primary school – from Stephen King to Oscar Wilde.

His favourite book was by Sigmund Freud on behavioural patterns, which he read aged 11 – and he says it shaped the way he looks at the world.

“She was giving me Plato and philosophers and all these mad books I had to read, and I had to read it back to her every night,” he said.

“I’m fighting against discrimination, for the man in the street, for Queen and country.”

Both the London Assembly and London Mayoral elections will go ahead on May 6 with Covid-secure measures in place at polling stations.

The full list of London Mayoral candidates:

• Sadiq Khan, Labour
• Shaun Bailey, Conservative
• Luisa Porritt, Liberal Democrats
• Sian Berry, Green Party
• Dr Peter Gammons, UKIP
• Mandu Reid, Women’s Equality Party
• Winston McKenzie, Unity In Action
• Kam Balayev, Renew Party
• Valerie Brown, Burning Pink
• David Kurten, Heritage Party
• Laurence Fox, Reclaim Party
• Piers Corbyn, Independent
• Farah London, Independent
• Nims Obunge, Independent
• Charlie Mullins, Independent
• Brian Rose, Independent
• Rosalind Readhead, Independent
• Count Binface, Independent
• Drillminister, Independent