The Man Who Would Be Mayor
On a grey Tuesday morning in City Hall, Sadiq Khan is doing what he does best: moving. Not with the frantic energy of a man under siege, but with the deliberate pace of someone who knows exactly where he's going. As he strides past the gleaming Thames-facing windows, he points out a new housing development in Bermondsey, a cycle lane extension in Elephant and Castle, and the delicate negotiations ongoing with TfL over the next round of fare increases. 'London isn't a city you can manage from a desk,' he says, settling into a chair that seems too small for his ambitions. 'You have to feel its pulse.'
That pulse has been beating faster than ever since Khan took office in 2016. The first Muslim mayor of a major Western capital, he inherited a city still reeling from the Brexit vote, a housing crisis reaching fever pitch, and a transport network straining at the seams. Eight years on, London is a different place. The Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) has expanded, the Elizabeth Line has transformed commuting, and affordable housing targets have been set, met, and revised upward. But Khan's tenure has also been marked by bitter controversy, from knife crime to the scrapping of the Garden Bridge to the endless rows over cycle lanes. To understand modern London, you must understand the man who has shaped it.
The Tooting Lad Who Made Good
Khan's backstory is the kind that makes political speechwriters weep with gratitude. Born in 1970 to a bus driver and a seamstress who emigrated from Pakistan, he grew up in a council estate in Tooting, south London. He was the first in his family to go to university, studying law at the University of North London. After qualifying as a solicitor, he specialised in human rights, taking on cases against the police and the government. 'I saw how the system could crush people who didn't have a voice,' he recalls. 'That stayed with me.'
His entry into politics was almost accidental. A chance meeting with a local Labour councillor led to him being selected as a candidate for the Wandsworth borough council. By 2005, he was MP for Tooting, a seat he held until becoming mayor. In Parliament, he served as a junior minister under Gordon Brown and later as Shadow Lord Chancellor under Ed Miliband. But it was the London mayoralty that truly captured his imagination. 'The mayor has more power to change people's daily lives than almost any other politician in the country,' he says. 'Housing, transport, policing, air quality — these aren't abstract issues. They're the texture of everyday life.'
The ULEZ Gamble
Perhaps nothing defines Khan's mayoralty more than the Ultra Low Emission Zone. First introduced in central London in 2019, it was expanded to the North and South Circular roads in 2021, and then to all London boroughs in August 2023. The policy has been wildly successful in reducing nitrogen dioxide levels — down by nearly half in central London — but it has also been deeply divisive. Critics accuse Khan of waging a 'war on motorists' and imposing a regressive tax on the poor. In the 2024 Uxbridge by-election, Labour's defeat was widely blamed on the ULEZ expansion, forcing Khan to announce a £110 million scrappage scheme for low-income drivers.
'I make no apologies for cleaning up London's air,' he insists, leaning forward. 'Every year, thousands of Londoners die prematurely because of toxic air. That's a public health emergency. But I also understand that change is hard. That's why we put in place the biggest scrappage scheme of its kind in the country.' The scheme, which offers up to £2,000 to scrap non-compliant vehicles, has been taken up by over 100,000 Londoners. Yet the anger remains, particularly in outer boroughs where car ownership is higher and public transport less frequent. 'It's a balancing act,' admits transport expert Dr. Alice Mowbray of the London School of Economics. 'Khan has staked his legacy on ULEZ, but the political cost has been enormous. He's betting that voters will eventually thank him for cleaner air.'
The Housing Crisis: A Concrete Legacy?
If ULEZ is Khan's environmental legacy, housing is his incomplete masterpiece. He has pledged to build 165,000 genuinely affordable homes by 2030, a target that looks increasingly ambitious given the economic headwinds. As of 2024, just over 60,000 have been completed. 'The numbers are moving in the right direction, but not fast enough,' admits Sarah Jenkins, a housing analyst at Savills. 'The problem is that Khan doesn't control land prices, construction costs, or interest rates. He can only influence planning and provide subsidies.'
Khan's approach has been to use his planning powers ruthlessly. He has intervened to block developments that don't include enough affordable housing, most famously the £1 billion redevelopment of the Earl's Court exhibition centre, which he rejected in 2019. 'Developers used to think they could get away with 10% affordable housing,' he says. 'Now they know they have to do better.' His flagship scheme, the London Plan, requires 50% of all new homes to be 'genuinely affordable' — defined as at least 20% below market rent. But critics argue that even this is out of reach for many Londoners. 'Affordable rent is still too high for a nurse or a teacher,' says Jenkins. 'Khan needs to go further.'
Transport: The Elizabeth Line and Beyond
Ask any Londoner what Khan's greatest achievement is, and many will point to the Elizabeth Line. Though the Crossrail project was approved long before he became mayor, Khan oversaw its completion and launch in 2022, after years of delays and budget overruns. The line, which runs from Reading to Shenfield via central London, has been a game-changer, cutting journey times and reducing congestion. 'It's the most significant addition to London's transport network since the Jubilee line extension,' says transport historian Dr. Mark Hinton. 'Khan deserves credit for not letting it die.'
But the Elizabeth Line has also come at a cost. TfL's finances were already stretched before the pandemic; the loss of fare revenue during COVID-19 pushed the organisation to the brink. Khan was forced to accept a £5 billion bailout from the government, with strings attached. 'The government used the pandemic to impose conditions on TfL that were politically motivated,' he claims. 'They wanted to force through driverless trains and cut jobs.' He fought back, and the government eventually backed down. But the episode revealed the fragility of London's transport funding model. 'We need a long-term settlement from government,' Khan says. 'We can't keep lurching from crisis to crisis.'
Policing and Crime
Perhaps the most persistent criticism of Khan has been over crime. Knife crime in London rose sharply after he took office, peaking in 2018 before falling back slightly. Despite this, the number of homicides in the capital remains higher than in New York, a city of comparable size. Khan has poured money into youth services and early intervention programmes, but the police have struggled with budget cuts and recruitment. 'I've made it clear that prevention is better than punishment,' he says. 'But we also need more officers on the beat.'
His relationship with the Metropolitan Police has been fraught. In 2022, he called for the resignation of Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick after a series of scandals, including the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer. 'The Met needs to be fit for purpose,' he says bluntly. 'That means rooting out racism, misogyny, and homophobia.' His critics accuse him of politicising policing, but Khan insists he is simply holding the force to account. 'Londoners deserve a police service they can trust.'
Why This Matters
Sadiq Khan is not just the mayor of London; he is a symbol of the city's diversity, ambition, and contradictions. His successes — cleaner air, better transport, more housing — are real but incomplete. His failures — crime, inequality, political polarisation — are equally tangible. As he prepares to stand for a third term in 2024, the question is not whether he has made London a better place, but whether he has made it a fairer one.
For now, Khan remains characteristically upbeat. 'London is the greatest city in the world,' he says, standing on the balcony of City Hall as the sun sets over the Thames. 'My job is to make sure it stays that way for everyone, not just the privileged few.' He turns and heads back inside. There's a meeting on the housing crisis in 10 minutes. The work, as always, continues.