Sadiq Khan on how to rejoin the EU

The mayor on why Andy Burnham should return and why we don’t need a second referendum

Today on Arguably, we bring you an interview with Sadiq Khan in which the London mayor reflects on a decade in office and outlines how he believes Labour must change. This piece is paid but you can read it now by becoming a full subscriber or signing up for a seven-day free trial.

Image: Nate Kitch for Arguably

A decade ago this month – in the distant era when David Cameron was still prime minister and Barack Obama was still president – Sadiq Khan became mayor of London. I remember the day well: mayors were traditionally inaugurated in the basement of City Hall, but Khan’s team chose the more resonant venue of Southwark Cathedral, where he was welcomed by guests including his seven siblings, his close ally Ed Miliband and Ian McKellen.

It’s now easy to forget how much of a political underdog Khan was back in 2016: the late Tessa Jowell had been the favourite to win the Labour nomination and plenty questioned whether London was ready to elect a Muslim mayor (the capital, with typical nonchalance, thought little of it). The Tooting boy defeated his Conservative opponent Zac Goldsmith by a landslide and was comfortably re-elected in 2021 and 2024, securing the third term that eluded his Labour predecessor Ken Livingstone.

This electoral success, critics contend, has been unmatched by policy delivery, but Khan argues he has benefited from what Keir Starmer has so lacked: a sense of direction.