MILLIONAIRE MP Zac Goldsmith was was crowned yesterday as the Tories’ London mayoral candidate, after a contest marred by very low turnout.

Mr Goldsmith beat three other male candidates to win in the first round of voting, with 70 per cent support.

But the public shunned Tory efforts to boost turnout in the ballot by offering non-members the chance to vote for £1.

Just 9,227 members and supporters bothered to take part, compared to the 87,884 turnout in Labour’s mayoral candidate selection contest.

And Mr Goldsmith’s mandate from 6,514 voters is dwarfed by the 41,638 Londoners who backed Sadiq Khan in Labour’s selection.

It’s also four times fewer than the 27,272 who voted for Tessa Jowell, who came second in Labour’s contest, and less than half the 17,784 who backed third-placed Diane Abbott.

It was the worst start possible for the Richmond MP as he seeks to take over from fellow Eton-schooled MP Boris Johnson as London mayor.

Mr Goldsmith’s selection sets up a battle between “the few and the many,” according to GMB southern region secretary Paul Maloney.

He told the Star: “It’s a candidate from the suburbs who knows little about real life for Londoners, against Sadiq, the son of a bus driver who knows what it’s like to survive tough times in London.

“He is in touch with Londoners, whereas as Zac Goldsmith is for the few and not the many.

“He’s relying on the big donations from bankers and wealthy business people who care only for themselves and not for London.”

Bookmakers made Mr Khan the odds-on favourite to regain City Hall for Labour for the first time since 2008.

Next May’s election is set to be dominated by London’s housing crisis, with Mr Khan saying that the vote will be a “referendum” on the issue.

Mr Goldsmith also named housing as his “number one issue” yesterday.

“Londoners are being priced out of their city and we will need a step change in the number of homes built,” he admitted.

Mr Khan challenged the Tory candidate to show he was serious by voting against the government’s Housing Bill, saying it would make the problem “many times worse.”