LONDON: Sadiq Khan has been knighted in the New Year’s Honors list after securing a record third term as London mayor.
Sir Sadiq, the son of a Pakistani bus driver in the capital, said he was “really honoured” to receive the honour.
He said: “Growing up on a council estate in south London, I could not have dreamed that one day I would be Mayor of London. It is the honor of my life to serve the city I love and I will continue to build a fairer London.” safer, greener and more prosperous that all communities in the capital deserve.
Born to Pakistani parents in Tooting, south London, Sir Sadiq worked as a human rights lawyer before entering Parliament as MP for his hometown in 2005, serving as a junior minister under Gordon Brown and then as shadow justice secretary. under Ed Miliband.
In 2016, he defeated the conservative Zac Goldsmith to succeed Boris Johnson as mayor of London, becoming the first Muslim mayor of a major Western city and winning two more terms.
Sir Sadiq has worked to improve London transport as mayor, introducing names and colors 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 declared 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 women’s rights”.
The dispute dates back to at least 2015, when Sir Sadiq condemned the then presidential candidate’s suggestion that Muslims should be banned from traveling to the United States.
In 2018, Sir Sadiq’s office gave permission for an inflatable depicting Trump as a baby to fly in Parliament Square while the US president visited the UK.
In June 2019, during Trump’s official state visit, the president reignited the dispute before even setting foot on British soil.
Moments before getting off the plane, the president tweeted that Sadiq had “done a terrible job as mayor of London” and was “a cold-hearted loser who should be focusing on crime in London, not me.”
Sir Sadiq responded: “I’m not 12 years old in a playground, I’m just amazed Donald Trump thinks he is.”
In May, Sir Sadiq became the first person to win a third term as mayor of London, with a majority of 275,000 votes over his Conservative rival Susan Hall.
Shortly after his historic third term victory, Sir Sadiq praised the outstanding coverage of Geographic news of the London mayoral elections, crediting the channel with the fight against racism, Islamophobia and fake news.
He said that during the electoral count, people told him that they had seen his re-election campaign in Geographic news platforms.
“There was a lot of hate and fake news about me during this election campaign. HE Geographic news It reaches people’s bedrooms through all its means. It teaches people and makes them aware of the problems. When I went knocking on doors during the campaign, people told me what Geographic news was shutting down,” Sadiq said.
“It is very important in this era of fake news that we counter fake news. I want to thank the decent journalists who expose racism, hatred and Islamophobia. I am grateful for the support of your viewers and today I am the mayor of the city largest in the world,” he added.
