LONDON: Sadiq Khan has been made a knight in the New Year Honours list after securing a record third term as mayor of London.
Sir Sadiq, the son of a Pakistani bus driver in the capital, said he was “truly humbled” to receive the honour.
He said: “I couldn’t have dreamed when growing up on a council estate in south London that I would one day be mayor of London. It’s the honour of my life to serve the city I love and I will continue to build the fairer, safer, greener and more prosperous London that all of the capital’s communities deserve.”
Born to Pakistani parents in Tooting, South London, Sir Sadiq worked as a human rights lawyer before entering Parliament as MP for his home town in 2005, serving as a junior minister under Gordon Brown and then as shadow justice secretary under Ed Miliband.
In 2016, he defeated Conservative Zac Goldsmith to succeed Boris Johnson as mayor of London, becoming the first Muslim mayor of a major western city and going on to win two further terms.
Sir Sadiq has worked on improving London’s transport as mayor, introducing names and colours for London Overground railway lines in November.
A high-profile feud with Donald Trump, dating back to the US president-elect’s first term in the White House, boosted his global profile.
After Trump claimed victory over Kamala Harris earlier this year, Sir Sadiq said “many Londoners will be anxious” and “fearful about what it will mean for democracy and for women’s rights”.
The spat dates back to at least 2015 when Sir Sadiq condemned the then-presidential hopeful’s suggestion that Muslims should be banned from travelling to the US.
In 2018, Sir Sadiq’s office gave permission for an inflatable depicting Trump as a baby to fly in Parliament Square as the US president visited the UK.
In June 2019, during Trump’s official state visit, the president reignited the row before even setting foot on British soil.
Moments before he stepped off the plane, the president tweeted that Sadiq had “done a terrible job as Mayor of London” and was “a stone-cold loser who should focus on crime in London, not me”.
Sir Sadiq responded: “I’m not 12 years old in a playground, I’m just surprised Donald Trump thinks he is.”
In May, Sir Sadiq became the first person to win a third term as London mayor, with a majority of 275,000 over Conservative rival Susan Hall.
Soon after his historic third term victory, Sir Sadiq praised the outstanding coverage by Geo News of London mayoral elections — crediting the channel with fighting racism, Islamophobia and fake news.
He said that during the election canvassing, people told him they had seen his re-election campaign on Geo News platforms.
“There was a lot of hate and fake news about me in this election campaign. I know Geo News reaches the bedrooms of people through all its mediums. It teaches people and makes them aware of the issues. When I went on door knocking during the campaign, people told me what Geo News was putting out,” Sadiq said.
“It’s very important in this age of fake news that we counter the fake news. I want to thank the decent journalists who call out racism, hate and Islamophobia. I am thankful for the support of your viewers and today I am the Mayor of the world’s greatest city,” he added.
