Fathers 4 Justice founder to enter Mayoral race

The founder of direct action group Fathers 4 Justice is planning to enter the London Mayoral race.

Matt O'Connor, who orchestrated stunts such as the powder-bombing of Tony Blair in the Commons, has vowed to bring "theatre and drama" to the campaign.

He plans to focus on the breakdown of families, which he believes is behind the huge number of teenage murders in London - 27 last year and two already this year. "One in two black children grows up without a father. One in four children grows up without a father. In London it's a real issue," said Mr O'Connor, 40, a father of three.

"We need to tackle crime and we need to tackle young offending. The role of fathers is absolutely integral to solving this problem."

Fathers 4 Justice was founded to highlight the difficulty many estranged fathers have in gaining legal access to their children but its publicity stunts have caused controversy.

Mr O'Connor almost committed suicide in 2001 when he considered jumping off Waterloo bridge after being barred from seeing his two sons from his first marriage.

He expects to launch his campaign on 14 February and stand for the English Democrats, who campaign for an English parliament because they believe that England loses out to Scotland in terms of public funding.