Sadiq Khan set to be formally sworn in as Mayor of London in multi-faith service

New Mayor: Sadiq Khan gets into a car on Saturday morning ahead of a swearing in ceremony at Southwark Cathedral
PA

Sadiq Khan was this morning set to be formally sworn in as London’s first Muslim mayor following his historic victory in the City Hall race.

The Labour MP for Tooting, who will now stand down from Parliament, won a bigger mandate than any other London Mayor with 1,310,143 votes in a count delayed by technical difficulties.

He will be sworn in as Boris Johnson’s successor in a multi-faith service at Southwark Cathedral on Saturday.

Mr Khan, the son of bus driver, is the first Muslim to hold the 16-year-old post. Today Tottenham MP David Lammy hailed his victory and said it could pave the way for an ethnic minority candidate to become prime minister.

Victor: Sadiq Khan leaves his home in south London on Saturday morning
PA

Mr Lammy said: "If we ever get a prime minister of colour it will be because of what Sadiq Khan has achieved."

In a dramatic contest that lasted hours longer than initially expected, Mr Khan took back London for the Labour Party after eight years with a staggering 1,310,143 votes to Tory rival Zac Goldsmith’s 994,614 after second preferences were counted.

In his words of acceptance, he said he had a “burning ambition” for every Londoner to have the same opportunities that he had growing up on a council estate in Tooting.

He added: “The opportunity not just to survive but to thrive. The opportunity to believe in a better future for you and your family.”

He also had thinly veiled words of criticism of the campaign led by Mr Goldsmith which was branded racist and divisive by his opponents, as well as some Tories.

“This election was not about controversy and I’m so proud that London has chosen hope over fear and unity over division,” he said to cheers from his supporters.

“I hope that we will never be offered such a stark choice again. Fear does not make us safer it only makes us weaker and a politics of fear is simply not welcome in our city.”

The result was finally declared at 12.25am after the count was held up by "discrepancies" in the mayoral count.

The result means he won a bigger share of the vote than even his predecessor Boris Johnson, taking 56.8 per cent to Mr Goldsmith’s 43.2 per cent, a difference of 13.6 per cent.

It is the biggest margin in the history of the mayoralty, apart from when Ken Livingstone ran as an independent in 2000 against Tory Steve Norris.

Mr Goldsmith congratulated Mr Khan and added: “I wish him well to build on the success that we’ve seen under Boris Johnson and to take them further.”

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