Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, has been knighted in Sir Keir Starmer’s inaugural New Year Honours List.
This despite the fact that, in the opinion of many, he has done a miserable job for the British capital. The Telegraph reports a political opponent describing the knighthood as a “reward for failure”.
Crime in the capital has soared since Khan took over from Boris Johnson in 2016. The number of stabbings has increased by over 60 per cent. At the same time, the city’s residents have seen their council tax rise by over 70 per cent, in a familiar Labour style that is now spreading across the UK.
Earlier this year, families of young people killed in the capital said the mayor had “completely lost control” of the streets.
Khan said he was “truly humbled” to be named a knight.
More than 200,000 have signed a petition against the knighthood in less than a month.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said Londoners would be “furious” at Sir Sadiq’s knighthood, which was a “reward for failure”.
– Under Sadiq Khan, Londoners have experienced a 61 per cent rise in knife crime, a housing crisis and a 70 per cent rise in council tax – they will rightly be furious that his failure is being rewarded.
– By rewarding the failed Sadiq Khan, Keir Starmer has once again shown that for Labour, party comes first, and country second.
Khan is allowing knife attacks and other crime to soar, choosing instead to go to war with motorists. His Ultra-Low Emission Zone (Ulez) particularly affects low-paid artisans who live on the outskirts of the city but work more centrally.
They have to pay £12.50 every day because their cars are considered a threat to the climate, but they can’t afford to buy cars that are accepted.
Khan has for several years been chairman of C40, which seeks to create 15-minute cities, a project that the capitol of Norway, Oslo, also enthusiastically signed up to under the social democrat Raymond Johansen and The Green Party.
But the war Khan has waged on motorists has been unsuccessful: Traffic and queues are only increasing, 20 mph speed limits aren’t helping either.
At the same time, Starmer is sticking another finger in the eye of Donald Trump, three weeks before Trump occupies the White House. Khan once said during Trump’s first term that it was “un-British” to receive Trump on a state visit.
This is yet another example of how little respect the British show for the president of their most important ally, especially important now that EU membership is history. Trump responded by describing Khan as “a stone cold loser”.
Now Trump is likely to be re-invited to London, as even Starmer understands the importance of reaching some kind of trade deal with the US. If so, Khan will be invited.
Unbelievably, Khan is someone who is frequently mentioned as a possible successor to Starmer as Labour leader. If so, one former human rights lawyer will be replaced by another.
