Sadiq Khan: I'll fight alongside David Cameron to stay in EU, new Mayor of London says

Sadiq Khan is mobbed by well-wishers as he arrives at City Hall for his first day on the job
Jeremy Selwyn
Pippa Crerar9 May 2016

Sadiq Khan set out his vision for London today as he revealed he would fight alongside David Cameron to keep Britain in the EU.

The new Labour Mayor said he felt like the “boy with the golden ticket” after winning the biggest personal mandate in British political history.

He promised to get on with delivering key campaign promises including tackling the housing crisis and keeping Londoners safe.

After a whirlwind 48 hours during which he was elected by 1.3 million votes to his Tory rival Zac Goldsmith’s 994,000, he pledged to be a Mayor for all Londoners.

Morning selfie: Sadiq poses for pictures with Londoners
Jeremy Selwyn

“This is not just the best job in politics, it’s the best job full stop. This is the city that gave my family the chance of doing things they’d never dreamt of doing,” he told the Standard.

“I feel a huge responsibility to make sure we’re successful because we need to show what a difference winning makes to people’s lives.”

“I feel like the boy who has won the golden ticket. But I want to get on and do some of the things I’ve promised to do.”

As he kicked off his first week as Labour’s most powerful politician, Mr Khan pledged to:

Sadiq Khan waves to the crowd as he enters City Hall for his first day as Mayor
Jeremy Selwyn
  • work with the Prime Minister to win the European Union referendum. The Mayor revealed Mr Cameron was worried about turn-out and had accepted his offer to “use the influence” of his win to make sure Londoners voted to remain in. 

  • bring together London’s councils - including Tory ones - with housing associations and developers to tackle the housing crisis. He was “confident we can do business” with the Government  but warned: “We’re not going to fix the housing crisis overnight.”

  • appoint an independent figure to review the emergency services’ capacity to deal with a major incident. He is meeting Met Chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe and Fire Service chiefs today.

  • reassure business he would pack his new advisory board with experts rather than “political cronies” and lead trade missions overseas. 

As he took over from Boris Johnson, Mr Khan said he wanted to have a good working relationship with ministers. “That’s how I mean to go along, to make sure I work with whoever to get the best deal for Londoners.”

He added: “The mandate on Thursday was massive, the point is to use that to serve this city. You can’t do that by being tribal, by being partisan. There are people who in the past have never voted Labour, may never vote Labour, but they love this city. I want to work with them.“

In an act of symbolism that was not lost on the crowd, his first public engagement was a Holocaust Memorial event yesterday.

Mr Khan touched briefly on the divisive mayoral election campaign. “Thursday’s result speaks for itself. We should be proud that Londoners chose hope over fear and unity over division.”

However, he admitted to one uncomfortable moment after his victory. “I was thoroughly disappointed that Zac didn’t shake my hand, I really was.”

Mr Khan at London Bridge station for his first day at City Hall
Jeremy Selwyn

Mr Goldsmith is understood to have congratulated him privately beforehand.

International interest in Mr Khan’s victory has focused on London electing its first Muslim mayor. US Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton tweeted her congratulations to the “son of a Pakistani bus driver”.

Mr Khan said: “I’ve never made a big deal out of one single part of my identity, we’ve all got multiple identities, but clearly is a vindication for the sort of campaign we had.

“If you’ve got a Presidential election where one of the candidates thinks Muslims shouldn’t be allowed into the country, and has the views Donald Trump has, and you’ve got a city like London choosing someone that happens to be of Islamic faith, it has an impact.”

Mr Khan admitted he was “a bit exhausted” - he has had less than ten hours sleep in the last four nights - but was overwhelmed by Londoners’ reaction to his win.

“I recognise that there’s really important things I’ve got to do. Fix the housing crisis, keep us safe, all that sort of stuff. But I’ve got to tell you, the warmth that has been shown to my family and me will stay with me forever.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in