Sadiq Khan shares my birthday though he came into this world seventeen years after me. Born in the London borough of Tooting, he became the Member of Parliament for that constituency back in 2005 having spent the previous ten years as a practising solicitor specialising in human rights. He became a member of Britain's Labour Party when he was fifteen years old.
Sadiq grew up in a Sunni Muslim working class family that had its roots back in Pakistan. His father was a bus driver and his mother was a seamstress. With his seven siblings, he was raised in a three bedroom council flat. You could never say that he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He attended council run schools before undertaking a law degree at The University of North London.
In spite of his native intelligence, Sadiq had to fight for everything he got, often experiencing racist treatment along the way. He was first democratically elected to be The Mayor of London back in 2016 and has since then succeeded in two further elections. White or black or brown, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or atheist - the people of London wanted him and that is why the majority put their crosses in his box.
Being the chief executive of a vast modern city like London - often with funding challenges - is no mean occupation. It takes a special, gifted human being to take on such a role. His areas of responsibility include policing, waste disposal, street lighting, air quality, education, transport, tourism and a whole bunch of other things not listed here.
Sadiq married another lawyer - Saadiya Ahmed in 1994. They have two daughters - Anisah and Ammarah who are both in their twenties. He once said, "I am proud that London is a city where, the vast majority of the time, Jewish people, Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, those who are not members of an organized faith, black, white, rich, young, gay, lesbian - don't simply tolerate each other but respect, embrace, and celebrate each other."
He also said, "London is the greatest city in the world" which is of course wrong because everybody knows that the greatest city in the world is my adopted Yorkshire city - Sheffield! He must have been joking.
Personally, I admire Sadiq Khan greatly for his steadfastness, his brilliance, his tolerance, his humility and his focus. I am of course leaving showman Boris Johnson out of the equation when I say that being The Mayor of London is not a job for ninnies.
Keep up the good work Sadiq!
Sadiq Khan with his wife Saadiya at a festival in Hyde Park
Interesting you should do a post on Khan. I recently had a WhatsApp “discussion” with a friend who thinks Trump is the best thing to happen to western politics this century. Part of the discussion was about Khan, He reckons Khan is not British. I tried to point out that Khan was more British than I am (I have spent the majority of my life outside the UK and was only born in the UK by accident of politics)…anyway I digress.
ReplyDeleteI find it depressing that there are some who believe someone cannot be British if they are Muslim.
My friend doesn’t believe in God but identifies as a Christian.
Your friend appears to be intellectually challenged. Of course Sadiq Khan is British. He was born here and so were his daughters and, good heavens, he is The Mayor of London! What could be more British than that! Is Trump Scottish or German?
DeleteUnfortunately, I find your eulogy for Sadiq Kahn rather lacking income respects, like his responsibility for policing seeing dramatic increases in knife crime and street crime, not to mention extensive examples of blatantly "two tier" policing of protests, a Jewish population in fear of their safety in the face of the relentlessly encouraged pro-palestinian street protest, collapsing nightlife despite employing a hugely expensive 'Tsar', abject failure to meet even pathetically low housing targets.....the list goes on.
ReplyDeleteFrom once having been a showcase for Britain, London has become a cess pit that many tourists shun in favour of Paris and other continental destinations.
My son lives in London and he would not recognise your negative characterisation of the city. I have visited often in the past ten years and to me it remains a vibrant, proud and successful city with so much to see and do. Sadiq Khan has a long history of reaching out to his Jewish neighbours and fellow Londoners.
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