Sadiq Khan

Sadiq Aman Khan (səˈdiːk_ˈkɑːn; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician who has served as the Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously a Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting from 2005 until 2016. A member of the Labour Party, Khan is on the party's soft left and has been ideologically characterised as a social democrat. Born in Tooting, South London, to a working-class British Pakistani family, Khan earned a law degree from the University of North London. He subsequently worked as a solicitor specialising in human rights issues and chaired the Liberty advocacy group for three years. Joining the Labour Party, Khan was a Councillor for the London Borough of Wandsworth from 1994 to 2006 before being elected MP for Tooting at the 2005 general election. Under Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Khan was appointed Minister of State for Communities in 2008, later becoming Minister of State for Transport. A key ally of the next Labour leader, Ed Miliband, he served in Miliband's Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, Shadow Lord Chancellor and Shadow Minister for London. As the London Labour candidate, Khan was elected Mayor of London at the 2016 mayoral election, defeating London Conservatives rival Zac Goldsmith and then resigning as an MP. In office, he froze all Transport for London fares until he offered HM Government a 1% above-inflation fare rise in return for a £1.6bn bailout for TfL amid the COVID-19 pandemic, introduced the Hopper fare for unlimited bus and tram journeys for an hour, the Toxicity Charge (T-Charge) on older and more polluting vehicles, and the 24/7 Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) fee on all but the cleanest vehicles in Central London, and backed expansion at London City Airport and Gatwick Airport. He was a vocal supporter of the unsuccessful Britain Stronger in Europe and People's Vote campaigns for the UK to remain in the European Union and a second referendum on Brexit, respectively. As well as having a strained relationship with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, whose socialist platform Khan thought unelectable, he attracted international attention for his Twitter arguments with United States President Donald Trump. He has been included in the Time 100 list of most influential people in the world. Khan has been praised for promoting mutual tolerance among London's varied communities, making transport more accessible, and reducing the number of polluting vehicles in Central London; however, he has been criticised for the rise of knife crime and his response to Crime in London.