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’.

Notably, the glossy power couple photo accompanying the article reveals just how remarkably similar Dupuy’s second wife looks to his first.

The breakdown of the marriage, over a decade ago, forced the mother to rebuild her life – a moment she described as a turning point

Sarah and Ms Cunningham’s ex husband launched their firm YouCater in 2024, an app described as the ‘Airbnb for catering’

As the Muslim daughter of Egyptian parents, Ms Cunningham may seem an unlikely choice for Farage (pictured), but a source close to the councillor said she ‘doesn’t back down’

Pictures of the glossy power couple reveal just how remarkably similar Mr Dupuy’s second wife looks to Ms Cunningham

Dupuy describes the venture on his LinkedIn profile as ‘the ultimate event catering marketplace in the UAE’.

Cunningham’s own business ventures in the wake of her relationship breakdown however proved less lucrative.

She told in 2018 how the split had inspired her to launch Kitchin Table, a women-only co-working concept that allowed professionals to work together from private homes.

‘There were so many times I just wanted to run something past someone else,’ she admitted.

‘I missed the community and sense of interaction that you get from being in an office – even though I didn’t want to be stuck in an office. I thought, why can’t I create a co-working space from home? And it just built from there.’

The business was established in 2017 but struggled to scale and was eventually dissolved in 2024, with the pandemic dealing a significant blow to a model reliant on people gathering in others’ homes.

In same year that Kitchin Table was founded, Cunningham married her second husband, American Michael Cunningham, 50.

She added to her brood with another child, while taking on Michael’s two children from a previous relationship.

The couple now live in a £5million flat in exclusive Bayswater, close to Hyde Park.

Before turning to politics, Ms Cunningham (pictured in 2026) tried her hand as launching her own business ventures, however they proved to be less successful

Pictured: Philippe Dupuy and his wife Sarah, who live in the United Arab Emirates

Cunningham pivoted towards politics after her entrepreneurial setback, securing a councillor role while holding down a senior post at the Crown Prosecution Service.

She unsuccessfully contested Westminster City Council in 2018 for the Conservatives before winning the Lancaster Gate seat in 2022.

In 2024, she stood for the London Assembly in 2024 and was briefly selected as the Tory candidate for Rotherham at the general election, before withdrawing.

Last year, Cunningham defected from the Conservatives to Reform UK, resigning from the CPS after making strong remarks on law and order and net zero which bosses said breached impartiality rules.

At the time, she said she was ‘tired of defending failure’ and accused both major parties of neglecting policing and public safety in London.

She also praised Reform leader Nigel Farage, saying: ‘He’s just such a great communicator, and everything he said makes sense. I don’t know how anyone can disagree with what Reform says.’

This week, after being selected as Reform’s mayoral candidate, she told how crime in the capital was ‘not theoretical’ for her family – described tracking down balaclava-clad muggers who she said targeted her children after police failed to help her.

Cunningham said: ‘I followed the gangs. I took photos because they were all in balaclavas. Their shoes were very distinct.

‘I protected my family when the state couldn’t, the press called me vigilante mum, but I should never have been put in that position.’

During her unveiling this week, she argued that the mayoral race would be a ‘binary choice’ between her and Sir Sadiq Khan, who is yet to announce if he will stand for a fourth term.

After the demise of her marriage with ex-husband Mr Dupuy (pictured with his current wife Sarah), Ms Cunningham went on to have another child with her American husband Michael Cunningham

Cunningham has spoken of her parents arriving from Egypt renovating properties and setting up a hotels business, as they wanted to ‘embrace full Britishness, British values and British culture’.

She is a practicing Muslim and has described experiencing ‘constant’ racist and misogynistic abuse online.

She told one newspaper: ‘It doesn’t affect me… Because maybe I’ve worked in the criminal justice system, I grew up in London like, it’s awful, of course, but I just, I just brush it aside.

‘I’d never think to report it to the police, even if I knew who the person was, unless I felt a personal threat.’

Cunningham was revealed as the face of the Women for Reform campaign launched last year, with the party looking to win over female voters.