As the son of an immigrant and as someone who grew up in public housing, Mr Khan’s background resonated with voters far more than that of his Conservative opponent, Zac Goldsmith, the son of the late Anglo-French billionaire Sir James Goldsmith.
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The first Muslim mayor of the British capital received a standing ovation as he walked into the hall after he won 1,310,143 votes to beat his nearest Conservative rival Goldsmith. “I’m determined to lead the most transparent, engaged and accessible administration London has ever seen, and to represent every single community, and every single part of our city, as mayor for all Londoners”.
After running a vicious, dishonest, and increasingly pathetic campaign against Khan, Goldsmith saw his strategy backfire; following Conservative Boris Johnson’s eight years as mayor, the city will now be in control of the Labour Party.
Sadiq Khan attends the signing ceremony for the newly elected Mayor of London, in Southwark Cathedral, London, Britain, May 7, 2016.
Mr Goldsmith’s brother, Ben, added: “I am proud of my brother”. I hope you’re not suggesting that people’s records, the platforms they’ve shared, the policy positions they have, shouldn’t be properly scrutinised and tested and challenged during the election. “I hope we will never be offered such a stark choice again”. “Fear does not make us safer, it only makes us weaker and the politics of fear is simply not welcome in our city”.
Mr Khan took the bigger share of the vote than even his predecessor Boris Johnson by taking 56.8 per cent to Mr Goldsmith’s 43.2 per cent.
In a newspaper article, Khan urged Labour to follow in his campaigning footsteps if it wanted to win at a parliamentary election in 2020.
“It’s awesome that London is about to get its first Muslim mayor”, Aisha, a Londoner, said.
In his meeting with Boardman he said: “I’m not just going to keep the proportion of Transport for London spending on cycling the same, I’m going to increase it”.
“I think all these things that have been said about him are very unfair”.
Khan, a former human rights lawyer, became Britain’s first Muslim Cabinet minister in 2009 under Gordon Brown.
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The 45-year-old Opposition candidate takes charge as the first Muslim head of City Hall in London as counting in the so-called “Super Thursday” polls came to a close.
