We may not ever get to see Idris Elba star as 007, but he does have a shot at becoming the next mayor of London with Labour reportedly keen for the actor to succeed Sadiq Khan at the next election.

Which sounds pretty ridiculous, but the idea is that Londoners are fed up with knife crime in the city and that is an area that Idris Elba is deeply involved in, having already worked extensively with Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the matter.

Labour sources said the 52-year-old Luther legend – from Hackney, East London – is ‘top of our wish list’ to run for mayor.

They told The Sun:

‘Idris has star appeal – but he is also a thoughtful political campaigner.

‘We can pick a Labour insider and try to make them famous. Or we can pick someone famous aligned with Labour. Idris would be at the absolute top of our wish list.’

Aside from surging knife crime, Mayor Sadiq Khan has come under fire for the hated Ulez scheme and being embroiled in the Labour freebies row. Even still, he was re-elected for a record third term as London’s mayor in 2024, so I guess most Londoners (or at least those who vote) figure he’s doing a good enough job.

Khan is expected to stand down before the next mayoral election which will likely be held in 2028. Next year, he’ll have been mayor of London for a record 10 years, having first been elected in May 2006.

Obviously everyone loves Idris Elba as an actor, but how probable is it that he’ll actually become the next mayor of London? He’ll have the female vote locked down for sure. But what does he bring to the table aside from a passion to curb knife crime? One of the ideas he came up with was for companies to start manufacturing blunt knives instead of sharp ones. Is that realistic and would it even stop teenagers in the city from finding ways to stab each other?

Anyway, this could all be a load of b0llocks given it comes from an anonymous source in The Sun, but of course it wouldn’t the first time a celebrity got appointed into political office. And that always seems to work out great, doesn’t it?

For the BBC diversity chief who claimed Idris Elba’s Luther ‘isn’t black enough’ because ‘he doesn’t have black friends and doesn’t eat Caribbean food’, click HERE.