In a boost to lawmaker Owen Smith, who is challenging for the Labour leadership, Khan broke his silence over who he was backing in the contest to say Corbyn could not lead the party to victory at the next election due in 2020.
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“A decision will be made on the leadership of the party and we will support that decision, but we are giving our backing to Jeremy Corbyn”.
In the past Corbyn has backed Britain’s withdrawal from North Atlantic Treaty Organisation though more recently he has talked of a more restricted role for the alliance.
Labour Party members in Hartlepool have handed under-fire Jeremy Corbyn their “overwhelming support” as he gears up for a crunch leadership battle.
But the letter of support, signed by councillors from across the United Kingdom, suggests it is only Mr Smith who is capable of leading the party into government.
Woundingly for the Labour leader, Mr Khan was highly critical of his performance in the European Union referendum campaign echoing widespread accusations that he was only lukewarm in his support for Remain.
Speaking at last night’s Labour leadership hustings with Owen Smith, Corbyn said he would seek to use diplomacy, rather than use armed force.
Debate moderator Carl Dinnen, of ITV News, sought to calm tensions while Mr Smith said: “This is what is going wrong with the Labour Party”.
The Labour leader said “I would want to avoid us getting involved militarily by building up the diplomatic relationships”.
A spokesman for the Jeremy for Labour campaign, said Mr Corbyn had even defended Mr Khan in the Commons at Prime Minister’s Questions when David Cameron accused him of having links with extremists.
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He added: “I don’t just think we have got to win over “some people” who have been tempted to vote Tory, as Jeremy put it”.
While Corbyn is a “principled Labour man” whose ideas have brought hope to many, Khan said that his year in charge had shown he was not up to the job and would be extremely unlikely to lead the party back to power. He is Corbyn’s only challenger for the party leadership.
“The response I’m getting outside of Parliament is very positive”, he said. Instead he stressed the need for diplomatic solutions, saying he wanted to achieve a world where there was no need to go to war.
But Mr Corbyn said his message appeals “all across the piece, all across the country”.
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Of the endorsement, Smith said he was “honoured” and praised Khan’s mayoral election campaign.
