Britain’s main Opposition party on Saturday celebrated a landslide victory as Sadiq Khan was elected the new mayor of London, effectively bringing back the Labour Party’s rule to the United Kingdom capital after eight years.
Crushing his opponent Zac Goldsmith with almost 46% of the vote share, 45-year-old Khan has become the first Muslim mayor of a major Western capital city. Khan's 13.6 percent margin of victory over Goldsmith was the widest in a London mayoral election in 16 years. Voters were undeterred by the bitter campaign that was marred by accusations that Khan had links to extremists and charges of anti-Semitism within Labour ranks. Khan replaces Conservative Boris Johnson, who ran the city of 8.6 million people for eight years.
Humble origins
Born to Pakistani immigrants in Tooting, South London, Khan grew up in a three-bedroom public housing apartment, with six brothers and a sister. His parents, who migrated to England shortly before his birth, worked hard to raise their children. For 25 years, his father Amanullah Khan worked as a bus driver, while his mother Sehrun, worked as a seamstress. Khan says he was inspired by them to work as soon as he could, be it little odd jobs like taking up the paper round or working on a building site.
Career as a lawyer and politician
Khan’s education paved the way for his political career. He studied law at the recommendation of a teacher, from the University of North London. He then worked as a visiting faulty for the same University, and for three years, also served as Chairman of the civil liberties pressure group.
He practiced as a solicitor for several years, before being elected to the House of Commons in 2005 for which he defeated five other candidates. He became the second Muslim to serve in Her Majesty’s Government, when in 2008 he was elected to replace Parmjit Dhanda as Minister of State for Communities.
Appointed the Minister of State for Transport in 2009, he became the first Muslim to attend Cabinet. In another major promotion, he was appointed as ‘Shadow Minister for London’ in 2013, in addition to his other existing responsibilities.
In the run up to his campaign, Sadiq Khan made a huge claim of freezing all train, bus and London’s Tube fares for four years, if appointed Mayor. This has been questioned by some, as it is believed that Khan has miscalculated the expenses for the same.
A historic win
The decision to run for Mayor surely reaped a good result for Khan. However, the campaign escalated to an ugly level with race and religion coming into focus. He is about to take office in a capital city where 12% of the population is Muslim.
Married to Saadiya Ahmed and father to two daughters, Sadiq Khan has made history by becoming the first Muslim Mayor of a major city in the European Union. His campaign that relied on his humble working class background helped him surge ahead of a Conservative opponent who comes from a privileged background.
