Exclusive:
Rising star and Reform London mayor hopeful Laila Cunningham happily posed with Philip Stephenson-Oliver following our exposé of how he offered “fun flour” on a David Cameron photo
Reform’s London Mayor wannabe is accused of hypocrisy by pitching a tough stance on tackling crime… after campaigning with a disgraced Tory exposed for “cocaine” antics.
We can reveal how Laila Cunningham – running for Nigel Farage’s party after defecting from the Tories – was happy to pose with Philip Stephenson-Oliver. It came after we revealed how he offered “fun flour” snorted from a photo of ex-PM David Cameron at a party. Ex-Crown prosecutor Ms Cunningham, the granddaughter of a prison governor, said would target “knife gangs, drug dealers, phone thieves, shoplifters” in a crackdown on crime in the capital.
Yet she went on the campaign trail with Mr Stephenson-Oliver, a Tory wine merchant who we exposed. The sordid scenes we revealed in July 2023 are a far cry from Ms Cunningham’s hard-line pitch as Nigel Farage’s mayoral candidate for 2028.
She pledged: “There’ll be a new sheriff in town and I will launch… an all-out war on crime.” However, one London Labour councillor said: “It’s disgraceful hypocrisy for Laila Cunningham to on the one hand feign being hard on crime, while on the other having campaigned alongside someone embroiled in this type of scandal. Middle class drug users are driving an underbelly of crime in the capital.” And a Labour source said: “She says she’d be tough on crime. Perhaps she can start by taking a closer look at the company she keeps.”
We published footage of Mr Stephenson-Oliver gripping a framed picture of former Prime Minister Cameron, while getting to his feet having apparently laid a line of cocaine. In another clip, the then Westminster North Tory Association chair passes a banknote to a pal who appears to start to snort the alleged substance. Later, Mr Stephenson-Oliver was seen doing the same thing at the house party in July 2023, a source said.
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Mr Stephenson-Oliver, 32, is said to have called the class A drug “fun flour” on the night. An image of the Cameron picture also shows remnants of white powder, a rolled-up note and bank card bearing Mr Stephenson-Oliver’s name.
We unearthed a series of social media photos posted since our 2023 story showing Ms Cunningham happily posing with him before her defection. In January 2024, he shared a picture of himself alongside Ms Cunningham, writing: “Street stall last weekend with… @policylaila.” The next month she posted an image of herself holding a flyer alongside Mr Stephenson-Oliver and others, writing: “Great team out today in Lancaster Gate.”
On the same day, he tweeted a picture standing alongside her, writing: “Out today with the formidable @policylaila…” And earlier that month, Mr Stephenson-Oliver smiled next to Ms Cunningham, calling her “great” in a post about canvassing.
Ms Cunningham, 48, posted images of her out with him in March and May that year. In June 2024, she posted a picture of herself smiling next to Mr Stephenson-Oliver, writing: “Team Tory…” And during the 2024 election race, then Tory chair Richard Holden posted a pic of a group including the pair.
In another picture shared of the duo last April by Mr Stephenson-Oliver, he boasted: “We’ll make Westminster Council Conservative Again.” In May he again posted a pic with Ms Cunningham, who serves on Westminster City Council. She defected to Reform last June and quit the CPS. On Friday, Ms Cunningham told the Times how residents complain about drug dealers: “I’m not saying London was a utopian dream, but I could rely on the police.”
Mr Stephenson-Oliver was suspended by the Conservative Party over our story, but appears to have been welcomed back into the fold. The self-described “influencer” – who says he is a reservist soldier – is chair of Queen’s Park and Maida Vale Conservative Association.
On his Instagram account, “thewineman” shares videos about wartime PM Winston Churchill’s drinking habits. One clip, set to piano music, shows him wearing a smoking jacket, telling viewers how Churchill liked to drink champagne from a silver tankard. In mid-2024, Mr Stephenson-Oliver told us: “After an investigation by the British army and a negative CDT ‘comprehensive drug test’ conducted by the royal medical corps I was fully exonerated. Following this, the investigation by the Conservative Party was dismissed.” It is not known what type of drug test he had, or when it was. It is not clear when his suspension was lifted.
A Tory spokesman said the party “does not routinely comment on disciplinary matters”. At the time of our story in 2023, Mr Stephenson-Oliver said: “A few seconds of video footage filmed illicitly by someone I thought was a friend is disappointing and potentially an invasion of my privacy. I challenge the very questionable testimony and actions that night from the person that the newspaper relies on for this story. However, I do apologise for any embarrassment that these covert, and out of context images might bring to others.”
On Wednesday, we revealed Ms Cunningham co-owns a London hotel which guests claim is unsafe and plagued with bed bugs. She said she had no role in running it. A Reform UK spokesman said Mr Stephenson-Oliver is an “exonerated individual”. Mr Stephenson-Oliver and the MoD did not comment when approached by this paper.
