Timothy Hailes steps aside as Lord Mayor pick, with Bronek Masojada now backed

Alderman Timothy Hailes, named by the City of London’s Court of Aldermen as its preferred candidate for Lord Mayor in 2026/27, has pulled out. The aldermen have switched their support to Alderman Bronek Masojada, and the vote is on Tuesday 29 September.

Hailes told colleagues he was withdrawing at a meeting of the court. In an email sent to every member of the City of London Corporation, he said someone “closely connected” to a former employer, a company where he had been a director and shareholder, was facing criminal proceedings.

He said the case in no way involves him and that he is not personally under investigation. He was standing aside, he said, so that there could be no damage to the mayoralty or to the City’s reputation. Which former employer he meant has not been made clear.

Why Timothy Hailes withdrew from the Lord Mayor election

Hailes said he hoped the role might come to him in future “when circumstances permit it”. On LinkedIn he described himself as “hugely disappointed” but said withdrawing was the right decision for the mayoralty and the City. The point of the Modern Mayoralty programme, he wrote, is that the office counts for more than the person holding it.

The Corporation has confirmed he is no longer in the running and that the aldermen now support Masojada.

How the Lord Mayor of the City of London is chosen

The Lord Mayor is a historic office with a new holder every year. Candidates come from the Square Mile’s 25 Aldermen and Alderwomen, and each must already have held the post of Sheriff.

Whoever wins this year’s vote takes up office formally on 13 November 2026.