Laila Cunningham

Laila Ahmed Cunningham (, previously Dupuy; born August 1977) is a British politician and former Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) prosecutor. She was elected to Westminster City Council in 2022 for the Conservative Party and defected to Reform UK in June 2025. In January 2026, Cunningham was announced as Reform UK's candidate at the 2028 London mayoral election.

Early life Cunningham was born in August 1977 in Paddington, London to Egyptian Muslim parents who had emigrated to the United Kingdom in the 1960s. Cunningham said that Egypt was nearly "communist" at the time, being under the rule of Gamal Abdel Nasser and his National Union.

She grew up in Kilburn in London, as one of five children. At secondary school, she took a keen interest in basketball – particularly due to her height (she was 5ft 11 when she was aged 11). She was part of the team representing South East England, and played in the London Youth Games.

Cunningham stood in the Queen's Park ward in the 2018 Westminster City Council election, in which all three seats were won by Labour. In 2022, she stood in the Lancaster Gate ward and was elected. In the 2024 London Assembly election, she was on the London-wide Conservative list, and was not elected.

In the 2024 general election, Cunningham was due to be the Conservative candidate in Rotherham. She withdrew "due to a change in circumstances", meaning the party did not contest the seat. Excluding the convention not to stand candidates in the constituency of the incumbent Speaker of the House of Commons, it was the only constituency in England, Scotland or Wales where the Conservatives did not stand.

Reform UK Cunningham defected to Reform UK in June 2025. She said the Conservatives had "let the country down" on issues such as taxation and immigration. This led to her resignation from the CPS, which was immediately accepted; she would likely have faced disciplinary process if she had not resigned.

After defecting, Cunningham was mentioned by BBC News, The Daily Telegraph and The Times as being a potential Reform UK candidate for mayor of London in 2028. She criticised incumbent Sadiq Khan over knife crime in London.

On 7 January 2026, Cunningham was announced as the Reform candidate for the 2028 London mayoral election. Cunningham proposed giving priority in social housing to British citizens, and abolishing the Ultra Low Emission Zone. Having been criticised by some on the right for having attended a Pride parade, Cunningham said "I've always been very pro gay rights, and I'll always march for that." In response to her remarks, Elon Musk, who had endorsed Restore Britain, accused Reform UK of wanting "race extinction".

She did not stand for re-election in the 2026 Westminster City Council election.

Personal life Cunningham is a mother of seven children.

After her divorce, Cunningham undertook freelance legal work, before setting up an app called Kitchin Table for self-employed women to set up working groups in their homes. That same year, she married American tech investor Michael Cunningham, with whom she has another son. She also raised his two existing children and thus considers herself to be a mother of seven.

She had a sister who died of cancer around 2022.

While Cunningham identifies as a Muslim, she has stated that she does not pray or fast during Ramadan.