Arise Lord Khan of Tooting.
Congratulations to Sir Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, who has now been further honoured with a peerage. The three-times Mayor will now be able to take his place on the red seats of the House of Lords, after receiving the nomination from Keir Starmer. He is one of 26 new Peers approved by the King.
It’s not yet clear how active a Lord Khan will be. He still has almost two years to serve of his current term in City Hall, and has hinted that he might seek a fourth go at the job. That said, riding two horses simultaneously is not unprecedented in this job. In 2015-16, Boris Johnson spent a year as both Mayor of London and MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
The appointment throws up any number of questions. For example, would Khan accept a ministerial role from PM presumptive Andy Burnham? Serving as a Lord would qualify him for cabinet. Then there’s the matter of the Lords itself. Both Burnham and Khan have spoken of the need for complete overhaul in the past.
The quirkiest upshot, though, is the potential confusion the new title brings. Sadiq Khan is now both Mayor of London and a Lord… but he is not Lord Mayor of London.
The Lord Mayor of London* is a year-long ceremonial appointment in the City of London (Square Mile)… the kind of mayor who goes around in gold chains and robes acting as a figurehead and ambassador for the City. Mayor of London Lord Khan, in contrast, is a political appointment with responsibilities over transport, policing and other weighty matters, and concerning the whole of Greater London.
They are two very different roles, but now with even more similar names.
*The current Lord Mayor is Dame Susan Langley, the third woman who has held the role, and the first to use the title “Lady Mayor”.
