Secret heartbreak of the 'vigilante mum' (of seven) running to be Reform's London mayor whose French husband left her and their children to run off to Dubai with another woman
She is the glamorous lawyer Nigel Farage hopes will topple Sadiq Khan to become Mayor of London - but behind Laila Cunningham's tough rhetoric lies a secret heartbreak.
She is the glamorous lawyer Nigel Farage hopes will topple Sadiq Khan to become Mayor of London - but behind Laila Cunningham’s tough rhetoric lies a secret heartbreak.
The Reform rising star was left to raise four children alone after her husband of ten years walked out on the family to start a new life in Dubai with a younger woman, Daily Mail can reveal.
Cunningham’s French entrepreneur husband, Philippe Dupuy, left the family’s London home when the couple’s children were still young, and later remarried in the United Arab Emirates.
His new wife, Sarah, happens to bear a most striking resemblance to his former partner.
The collapse of the marriage, more than a decade ago, forced Cunningham to rebuild both her life as a single mother, a period she has described as a turning point.
She revealed in a 2018 interview: ‘After being married for ten years and having four children, my husband just left to be with a woman in Dubai.
‘That really catapulted me into action.’
Now 48, Cunningham is attempting to break Labour’s 12-year grip on the capital at next year’s election after defecting from the Conservatives to Reform.
She launched her campaign this week declaring: ‘There’s a new sheriff in town.’
Lawyer Laila Cunningham (pictured) , who Nigel Farage hopes will topple Sadiq Khan as Mayor of London
Pictured: Sarah Dupuy, the new wife of Mr Cunningham's former husband, Philippe Dupuy
Mr Dupuy (pictured alongside Sarah) walked out on the Reform councillor and their children before remarrying in the United Arab Emirates
While perhaps an unusual choice for Nigel Farage given her background as the Muslim daughter of Egyptian migrants, allies say her personal upheaval hardened her political instincts.
‘Laila doesn’t back down,’ said one source close to the councillor.
‘The divorce forced her to toughen up. That’s fed directly into how she operates in public life.’
Friends say Cunningham was left to ‘fight her own battles’ when Dupuy bolted to Dubai in 2013, leaving her to juggle childcare and work commitments as a single mother.
There he launched a financial consultancy advising the super-rich before marrying Sarah, a financial trader originally from the Netherlands.
The couple launched their business YouCater in 2024, an online app described as an ‘Airbnb for catering’ which connects wealthy emiratis with fine-dining chefs on demand.
A glowing puff-piece in the Dubai press told of their 30 years of experience of global business experience ‘across restaurant conception, finance and investment’.