A study conducted by the Media Reform Coalition (MRC) and Goldsmiths University of London argued that in the 2016 elections for the new Mayor of London, the London Evening Standard was the "mouthpiece of the Conservative Party", according to MRC chair Justin Schlosberg. There were almost twice as many positive headlines about the Conservative candidate, Zac Goldsmith, as for his Labour rival, Sadiq Khan, with stories exhibiting the strongest bias against Khan also being the most prominent. 13 out of 15 official press releases from the Goldsmith campaign in the two months to 12 April were published as news stories in the paper, "reproducing headlines from the news release virtually verbatim", according to the study.[40]