Rory Stewart will stand in next year’s London mayoral election against Sadiq Khan and Shaun Bailey. The former Tory leadership candidate claimed both Labour and the Conservatives are becoming “very extremist”, in a discussion on his reasons for stepping down as a Tory MP. The Sky News presenter asked: “You’ve been a powerful and strong voice against a no deal Brexit, you’ve stood up to the Prime Minister, you stood against him in the leadership race.

“Do you feel, given events of the latest weeks, prorogation, the Supreme Court decision, the tone of debate in Parliament.

“That now more than ever you have a duty to stand and hold those in power to account, and that you’re abandoning the fight?”

The MP for Penrith and The Border replied: “I definitely feel we are entering a very, very difficult time in politics, all those things that you mentioned, the prorogation of Parliament, the purging of MPs, these are things that have really troubled me as a Conservative.

“They’re one of the reasons why I have made a difficult decision to leave the Conservative Party, I was in the Conservative Party because I believed in these institutions.

“I’m a traditionalist, I respect the constitution, parliamentary sovereignty and the rule of law, and I was very saddened by the fact that sometimes it feels both in Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party and sometimes in the Conservative Party, that we’re becoming very extremist.

“It’s as though Donald Trump is haunting London. But the way to fight back I think is not to stick myself in that old paddy system but to show as an independent, with millions of Londoners behind me, that we can do politics in a different way.”

Mr Stewart said he was running as an Independent candidate in May to protect the city from “Brexit danger”.

He claimed the “wondrous” city of London is in “real danger” from the nation’s exit from the bloc. His remarks come after he revealed his “sadness” at resigning as a Tory MP.

The former Cabinet minister was among the 21 rebels who had the whip removed by Boris Johnson when he defied him in the Commons by backing a move designed to block a no-deal Brexit. But announcing his decision to run for London Mayor in a video posted on Twitter, he launched an attack on Westminister, saying he was “leaving that gothic shouting chamber”.

He said: “I’m standing in the middle of the greatest city on earth. I’ve got the wondrous St Paul’s Cathedral behind me in this slightly dodgy selfie and it is a city not just with so much potential but, of course, a city that is now in real danger. Danger from Brexit, from technological change but I think, above all, from what’s happened in British politics, to the kind of extremism that is taking over our country. This was the most moderate country on Earth.

“One of the most settled places on Earth, the place that treated people with civility and dignity and the reason that I’m going to be running in May to be Mayor of London is that I believe that the way to fight back is through this great city.

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“Through the traditions of compromise, the energy and diversity of this city and to make it a better place, to make sure that the very air we breathe is clean, that we feel safe in our houses, that we have the right kind of houses, that we challenge division.

“I’m leaving that gothic shouting chamber of Westminster, I’m getting away from a politics which makes me sometimes feel as though Trump has never left London and I want to walk through every borough of this great city to get back to us on the ground, making change local and showing that the way we do it is not through division but through love.

“Love not as a lazy compromise but as something painful, something difficult, something risky about changing the world together.”

Mr Stewart has stood as an MP for Penrith and the Border since 2010.

Mr Stewart served as international development secretary until his resignation from Government in July, shortly before Mr Johnson took office and undertook his drastic Cabinet reshuffle.

The Penrith and The Border MP ran against Mr Johnson in the race to lead his party in June, but on Friday he announced his decision to quit.

He tweeted: “It’s been a great privilege to serve Penrith and The Border for the last ten years, so it is with sadness that I am announcing that I will be standing down at the next election, and that I have also resigned from the Conservative Party.”

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