H er mother kept an AK47 by her bed to protect her family from marauding gangs – now she wants hopes to be the Tory candidate for London mayor in a bid to help Londoners feel safer.

Sara Gezdari was 13 when she left her native Albania for Italy to escape the civil war which engulfed the country in 1997 after its brutal communist regime had fallen a few years before.

On the shortlist of three to be the Tory candidate for London mayor , Ms Gezdari, a 42-year-old businesswoman, single mum and recent candidate from the London borough of Richmond, has become one of the party’s emerging stars.

But, while she now lives in London’s leafiest borough, she has not forgotten her origins.

Sara Gezdari with her children Edoardo and Sofia (Sara Gezdari)

“One of the most traumatic experiences that I have is at the time as a child in Albania.…