Bloomberg mulling London mayoral bid

Hey, if you’ve been mayor of one of the world’s great cities, then why not also lead one of the world’s other great metropolises? At least, that’s supposedly the thinking of former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is reportedly considering running for mayor of London in 2016.

According to the Sunday Times, Bloomberg, 73, has floated the idea of running in the next London mayoral elections as a Tory candidate, in a bid to succeed current mayor Boris Johnson.

This may sound a bit strange, but it’s not totally inconceivable given that Bloomberg has been given an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth and owns a $20 million London townhouse. In addition, his former wife is British and his two daughters have British citizenship.

Bloomberg himself is not a British citizen…yet. New York Magazine’s Daily Intelligencer blog suspects that with Bloomberg’s having invested $745 million in the UK, the citizenship application process would likely be sped up for him. When there’s a will, there’s evidently a way to ensure that the former mayor of the Big Apple would be eligible in time to vie for the leadership of the city that’s home to Big Ben.

It seems some well-placed Brits would welcome Bloomberg’s business-like approach to city governance.

“It would be an incredible coup for London if Mike Bloomberg could be persuaded to run for mayor here. His kind of pragmatic, problem-solving leadership is exactly what London needs,” said Steve Hilton, a close advisor to Conservative UK Prime Minister David Cameron.

After Bloomberg’s third term as New York mayor ended at the end of 2013, he said he would focus on his philanthropic work. However, early this year, he ended up returning to run Bloomberg LP, the financial news and information company he founded.

With a net worth of $36.4 billion, Bloomberg could do just about anything he wants. And if the latest speculation proves correct, then it would seem that what he wants is to bring his CEO-style leadership across the pond.

Of course, Bloomberg has not yet officially declared any intention of running in the London mayoral election. But it’s interesting to note that should he be elected, he would be the third Jewish mayor in the British capital’s history.