Labour chooses Sadiq Khan to run for a THIRD term as London mayor that would see him run the capital for longer than Boris Johnson

• A win in two years’ time would see him secure a third term in office in London 
• His predecessors Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone only served two terms
• Tories face uphill battle to unseat him as party is miles behind in the capital

Sadiq Khan is set to become London’s longest serving elected mayor after being chosen by Labour to run again in 2024.

A win in two years’ time would see him secure a third term in office, one more than achieved by either of his predecessors Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone.

Local Labour parties in the capital endorsed his nomination last night. With the party miles ahead of the Tories in the polls in London, it is likely only a herculean effort will be able to unseat him.

After being named as the party candidate he said the lection would be a ‘an opportunity for Londoners to send a message to the Tories – not only for crashing the economy, but for their anti-London approach, the damage they’re doing to our public services, their refusal to take national action to tackle the climate emergency, and their appalling attempts to stoke division between our communities for political gain’.  

But Susan Hall, the Tory leader in the Greater London Assembly, said: ‘London cannot afford another four years of Sadiq Khan. 

A win in two years’ time would see him secure a third term in office, one more than achieved by either of his predecessors Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone.

A win in two years’ time would see him secure a third term in office, one more than achieved by either of his predecessors Boris Johnson (pictured in 2013) and Ken Livingstone.

Susan Hall, the Tory leader in the Greater London Assembly, said: ‘London cannot afford another four years of Sadiq Khan’

‘He has hit the poorest with punitive taxes, allowed the Met Police and London Fire Brigade to fall into special measures, and treated City Hall like his own personal PR machine. 

‘He has been a complete disaster as Mayor and Londoners are rightly demanding change.’ 

Mr Khan won a second term only last year after having his majority slashed by former rank outsider Shaun Bailey.

He is serving a truncated three-year term after winning an election that was postponed to May 2021 from 2020 due to the pandemic.

But he was pushed all the way by Mr Bailey, who had been given little hope of getting anywhere close to him. With second preference votes included Mr Khan won 55 per cent of the vote, down from 57 per cent in 2016.

However since May 2021 support for the Tories nationwide, including in London, has gone into freefall. 

A Survation poll in October found that every Tory MP in London – including Mr Johnson  – could be at risk of losing their seat at the next general election, with the party 37 points behind Labour.

But Mr Khan is facing pressure over violent crime in the capital under his administration. 

Last week he was challenged over an ‘amateurish, shoddy and childish’ media briefing against a former police watchdog amid the fallout of the departure of Met Police chief Cressida Dick.

Sir Thomas Winsor, the former inspectorate of constabulary, lashed out at a seven-page document sent to journalists by the mayor’s office.

He told a City Hall committee it was sent the same day as he released his report into the departure of Dame Cressida Dick as the Metropolitan Police Commissioner.

In a shock announcement in February, Dame Cressida revealed she would quit as Britain’s most senior police officer after losing the confidence of Mr Khan.

When Sir Thomas published his report into her departure in September, he found she had been intimidated into leaving her job and concluded Mr Khan had not followed due process.

Appearing before the London Assembly’s Police and Crime Committee today, Sir Thomas criticised the ‘briefing document’ sent to journalists on the day he released his report.

‘It’s not a press release, it’s a briefing document which journalists were required to explain their credentials before City Hall staff would hand it over – that’s how I got it,’ Sir Thomas told the committee.

‘I was really quite startled at how negative the briefing was, and also how amateurish, shoddy and childish it was. But it is as it is.’

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