As Mayor of London, Mr Khan is the most prominent Muslim politician in the United Kingdom. Like most British Muslims, he always voted Labour and is now being talked about as the man to kick out the current leader of the Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer. Khan (aged 55) has been elected to the mayoralty a record three times. He has speculated about seeking a fourth term as Mayor of London. His predecessor in that office was the Conservative heavyweight Boris Johnson, who went on to become Prime Minister. Khan has made no secret of his prime ministerial ambitions.
Starmer has a terrible approval rating, whereas Khan’s is good. Many in the British Labour Party are openly saying that Starmer is doomed. His days are numbered as the elections to local councils across England will take place on 7 May, and Labour is due to get a kicking. This will not change the fact that Labour forms the Government of the United Kingdom – it will only affect county councils and city councils. But it is a sign of the way the wind is blowing. Labour won a landslide victory in 2024. But by 202,6 that has gone and Labour is third in some opinion polls behind Reform UK and the Conservatives. Some people in Labour believe in the leadership: no change, no chance. Labour needs a leader who can win, and Khan has a track record of winning.
The argument against making Khan the leader of Labour and therefore PM is that it is easy for Labour to win in London. For the last century, Labour has won elections in London, whether to the Greater London Council, the London Assembly, parliamentary seats or borough council seats about 80% of the time. Just because Khan is successful in the capital does not guarantee that he will be popular across the UK. Many Britons resent London's dominance. The richest city in the UK gets more taxpayers’ money than it should and too much airtime.
As for Khan becoming the leader of his party, there is the small matter of his not being a Member of Parliament. He was an MP but stepped down from Parliament when elected Mayor of London. He has wanted to re-enter Parliament for several years. However, he has been unable to find a safe Labour constituency to select him as a candidate. He and Starmer have a personality clash. Their mutual loathing is not ideological. They agree on a lot.
Andy Burnham is the Mayor of Manchester and a member of the Labour Party, and he, too, has been open about his desire to replace Starmer. But Burnham is not an MP either. Therefore, it is a race between the two Labour mayors to get back into Parliament. There are other members of the Labour Cabinet sharpening their metaphorical knives for Starmer’s back.
Mr Khan has been strident in criticising Starmer publicly. Khan denounced the genocide in Gaza when Starmer would not say the ‘G’ word. He has been fulsome in calling Donald Trump the deranged egomaniacal imbecile that he is. Khan has attacked his party’s economic policies from the left. All this has gone down very well with the Labour grassroots.
Sadiq Khan is genial, well-presented, groomed and an adept media performer. Even his political opponents find it hard to dislike him. Labour says he has been a phenomenally successful Mayor of London. It is regarded as the only Alpha +++ city in the world. The 10-million-strong city is not large in population by modern standards. But as a financial nexus, as a transport hub with six airports and a direct rail link to the Continent (Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and soon Frankfurt), a centre for the fashion industry, as the world capital of theatre, and as the home of some of the world’s top universities, London truly is second to none. It is perhaps the most racially and religiously diverse city on earth.
Under Sadiq Khan’s mayoralty, London’s population has grown faster than the rest of the United Kingdom. The main line rail and the London Underground have expanded. The buses have mostly switched to being all-electric. He has extended the Ultra Low Emissions Zone to make London’s air the cleanest of any city of comparable size. The Air Quality Index in London is about 20. By way of comparison, Delhi’s is 300. AQI is best when it is zero.
There are several serious criticisms to be laid at the door of the Mayor of London. Property prices are eye-watering. A residence costs GBP 5,000 per square metre in Outer London. In the chi chi areas such as Knightsbridge or Mayfair it costs GBP 50,000. Bear in mind that the mean average annual salary in London is GBP 50,000. London is a victim of its own success. It attracts wealthy people from all over the globe. This drives up property prices.
Crime has increased under Mr Khan. He is the crime commissioner for London – representing the views of Londoners to the Metropolitan Police. Khan does not have operational control of the police, otherwise he could order them to arrest all members of the Conservative Party! He has the power to dismiss the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and did so on one occasion.
Public transport is expensive, and prices are rising. There have been numerous strikes on the transport network.
Ultra Low Emissions Zones (ULEZ) are unpopular with motorists. It also impacts businesses as fewer people go shopping or to restaurants. The Ultra Low Emissions Zones charge all but electric vehicles to drive anywhere in London.
Conservatives say that Khan has been a woeful mayor. They accuse him of profligacy and dysfunctionality. They have dubbed him ‘Khan’t.’
Khan was born in London to Pakistani immigrant parents. He grew up in a liberal Muslim family. His father was a bus driver, and money was tight. His parents urged him to pursue education as a way to better himself. He attended the University of North London, which is not highly regarded. He qualified as a solicitor. He married young and had two daughters.
In his youth, Khan said he experienced prejudice not because of his faith but because of his race. Many white Britons were so ignorant that they did not know the difference between Hinduism and Islam. Most whites were not racist, but there was a minority of the white community that was vociferous in its loathing of brown people. Sadiq Khan said that he joined Labour because of its commitment to social justice, excellent public services and anti-racism. The other major party – the Conservatives – did not seem to care about these things.
Under Tony Blair’s premiership, Khan was elected to Parliament. He represented a London constituency called Tooting. He said he has opposed the war in Iraq.
Upon election as Mayor of London, Khan stood down as an MP. He initially said he would serve two terms maximum, but was prevailed upon to seek a third. In his third term, he won by an 8% margin: not as wide as anticipated. The Labour Party always struggles with turnout. The election results are always worse than the opinion polls suggest. Labour derives support from youngsters and ethnic minority people who tend to have poor turnout.
When Khan first stood to be Mayor of London, his Conservative opponent said Khan had links to ‘jihadis’. This line of attack fell flat and has not been tried again. London is 12% Muslim: double the % of the United Kingdom as a whole. If anything, his race is an advantage in a city that is 45% non-white and of the white,s only 35% are ethnically British.